Time shift aka Papa from the past
by phppsmss
Summary: It was like any normal day for the Seigaku members until an unexpected vistor arrived. The problem was that this visitor insists that Ecizhen was her father and poor Ecizhen was not in the right state of mind to handle this shock. DISCONTINUED
1. The strange phenomenon

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis

It started out as a really normal day for the seigaku members.

Momo was currently in a heated argument with Kaido, distracting the rest of the members. Kawamura was desperately trying to break up the impending fight. Fuji wasn't moving a muscle; he just leaned against the wall with an ominous smile plastered on his face. Eji was glomping onto Oishi, who was also making a fruitless attempt to calm both parties down. Inui on the other hand just continued his incessant scribbling, muttering incoherent words in the process. Tezuka was watching the scene with no emotion written on his stoic face. And well… Ecizhen was late, as usual.

Yup, this was definitely a normal day.

Tezuka's POV

They were blessed with a healthy pair of lungs. This was the 3rd time both of them got into an argument today, it was over a trivial matter actually. Something about Momo insulting Kaido a little while ago about his bandana… you know that usual stuff. Those two are really testing my patience though. I had been really graceful previously, not punishing them for making a spectacle. Well not any more! I am going to make them run laps, maybe throw in inui's juice to shut them up for good. What was his latest concoction again? I remember Inui telling me yesterday as he proudly held out the bubbling mixture. Looks disgusting though, those swirls of orange and red will definitely knock them out for hours, that Inui's Mega Power Drink.

Ecizhen on the other hand was late, AGAIN. Tennis prodigy or not, he sure had some serious time management issues to consider. Perhaps I should really give him an alarm clock, you know those old-fashioned ones that wake up the dead when the alarm goes off. He is going to be the next pillar of Seigaku and captain . Some fine example he will be setting to the other members! That's it! A one to one talk with him first thing after practice tomorrow! I better put that on my agenda.

I am really getting a full blown headache now! Those two do not have their limits! I should seriously consider Sensei's proposal of going to Germany, to kill two birds with one stone. Not only will my arm be cured, I can for once have a peaceful and relaxing day without any threat to my increasing blood pressure. This chance is godsend, maybe I really should go…

Normal POV

Warning bells began to clash against each other as Tezuka approached Inui before slowly making his way towards his two juniors, who were now bent on strangling each other. Tezuka stood before them with his dark repulsive aura gathering slowly.

"50 laps now!" Tezuka ordered as he swiftly pointed at Kaido and Momo.

Both of them fell silent immediately and started to stare accusingly at each other.

Inui gave an eerie grin before striding towards the group, holding up his notorious Inui's juice for those who wanted, and never-want-to-see-that-accursed-thing-again, to see. "Well the loser will have to drink this Inui's Mega Power drink, I just made the final adjustments yesterday!" Everyone except Tezuka and Fuji began to tremble and their faces began to turn into a deathly shade of pallor. Kaido and Momo practically made a dash for their lives.

Tezuka narrowed his eyes and ordered the rest of the regulars and members to continue with what they were doing.

Everything went on fine until fifteen minutes later, Oishi rushed towards Tezuka with a worried look on his face, "Say Tezuka, isn't Ecizhen a little too late today? Do you think we should call his family or something?" The mother of Seigaku began to ramble on and on about his worries as the stone pillar made no attempt to shut Oishi up.

"Sa, he will be alright Oishi. Right Tezuka?" Fuji piped as he appeared from nowhere.

"Give him another fifteen more minutes. I am sure he overslept or something." Tezuka said tonelessly.

"Ok." Oishi said uncertainly as he began to find Eji.

"Oishi"

"Yes Tezuka?" Oishi answered with a surprised look on his face.

"Get Ecizhen an alarm clock."

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So normal life continued, with Momo and Kaido trying to outrun each other, Kawamura smashing his opponents in his BURNING mode, Fuji conversing with Tezuka with the stoic captain replying one in every ten sentences, Eji showing off to his acrobatic moves to his juniors, Oishi desperately trying to stop Eji from distracting the juniors and so on.

This was until a flash a lightning illuminated the entire sky and caught everyone in the vindictively by surprise. Some of the members who were terrified of lightning quickly ducked under peeling benches or made a mad dash for the clubhouse. Some superstitious ones believed that it was the work of the lightning god and started to go into some sort of ritual, trying to please the mighty O one. However, the flash of lightning soon disappeared and the sky became clear once more.

Inui began to mutter and started to scribble furiously into his notebook before exclaiming, " This cannot be true!"

Eji spun around and asked curiously, "Nya, what is it Inui?"

Inui looked up and replied, "Probability of this happening is 0!"

Sweat drops can be seen as Eji stared incredulously at the Data Genius. Inui began to preach theories on lightning and thunder as he occasionally referred to his notebook for reference.

This continued until Momo appeared in front of Tezuka, with a child in his arms.

"Uh Buchou? We have a problem."

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Momo POV

Buchou must be really pissed with us today, 50 laps! I can feel my legs giving way already. Furthermore, Inui sempai threatened us with his concoction again, big evil smile on his face, cooked up with ingredients only he could imagine. I could feel an adrenaline rush, that was definitely worse than death, past experience told me so. I swear that devil's spawn loves to torture us, this sadistic streak is similar to Fuji sempai. Speaking of which, Fuji sempai is currently eyeing that concoction with much fascination, I am dead sure he wants to have a taste of it. His intestines must be made of steel.

Previous encounters with this drink from hell told me never to underestimate it. The last time I drank Inui's juice, I had a stomach ache for three days straight, rushing off to the toilet every half an hour. I was totally dehydrated I tell you! Each improvised mixture seemed to taste more and more revolting and I was sweating buckets when Inui sempai whipped out his Inui's Mega Power juice. So imagine my horror when I saw some of that concoction dripping onto some weeds on the ground and those weeds actually died instantly, emitting smoke like it was burning or something Kami sama! Save me! I am too young to die! The authorities should ban Inui's juice and lock up in a heavily guarded safe far away from Inui sempai's reach. Or maybe they should use it as herbicide, killing off all weeds. Guaranteed 100! Wait! The plants will die off as well!

This was all Mamushi's fault. Like they said – Honesty is the best policy. Well I simply told Mamushi that his bandana had a horrify shade of green or something like that. The next thing I knew, I was spluttering expletives at Mamushi once more. Boy was he touchy. He should seriously consider attending anger management classes. Well that was before Buchou intervened and then we were running for our lives.

Lactic acid was pilling up in my muscles but I silently swore that I will never taste Inui's juice EVER AGIN. Ignoring the fact that I had to run slower so that I could last longer, I practically sped past Mamushi, earning started looks from this sudden burst of energy. Well, it wasn't long before he caught up and we were both racing and glaring daggers at

each other. Inwardly, I was wondering about Ecizhen's absence. He was a bit too late wasn't he? He must have overslept again. Probably drank beer yesterday and had a hangover early this morning. Whatever the case, he was sure going to be in deep shit when he arrives. Maybe Buchou will make him run 100 laps. I am starting to pity him already.

Well we were still competing and were on our 27th lap when the sky suddenly flashed really brightly. This put Mamushi and I dead on our tracks. Now any ass would know that this was not a normal lightning or phenomenal. Mamushi had a look of pure terror on his face. He was the superstitious type, believed in ghost and all the other nonsense. He must have thought this was the work of some god or what so ever. Now that's amusing! Say maybe one fine day, I should lock him up in a dark closet and let him freak out. Muhahaha. Anyway this flash of bright light disappeared quickly and every thing was back to normal. It took Mamushi to regain his composure though. As I was preparing to dash off once more, I spotted a little kid at the gate at the corner of my eye. Mamushi sensed that I wasn't competing with him and paused too. That girl had long black hair with huge round golden eyes. I bet Eji sempai will squeal how kawaii this kiddo was. She was around 6 to 7 years I suppose or probably younger. She looked cute alright but her eyes told me otherwise. They were like those of Ecizhen.

Anyway, she was staring at both of us, tense and scared, before a look of recognition dawned on her pretty little face. She started to relax and a huge smile was formed. She rushed towards me and started to squeal in delight. Now I did not expect this turn of events therefore I just stared dumbly at the hyperactive kid who was tugging my shirt and squealing happily.

What struck me like a ton of bricks was when she happily called out, "Uncle Momo!". Now I NEVER dreamt of this therefore I came to the MOST logical conclusion - The gods must be playing a trick on me. Ok, ok, calm down. Close my eyes, take deep breaths, count from one to ten. Well I did that, she was still there. Mamushi stared incredulously at me and the child before dashing off somewhere.

Now what was I suppose to do? An idea struck me that very moment. Surely Buchou had some idea! I scooped the child into my arms and dashed off to find him.

Normal POV

Everyone was staring at Momo as if he had grown another head. Eji was the first to break the silence as he went swooning over the Ochibi number 2. Fuji innocuous smile was still on his face and Kawamura dropped his racket when he saw the child.

Tezuka stared sternly at Momo before asking, "What is the meaning of this?"

Momo told Tezuka and the rest of the Seigaku members the entire story within five minutes. "Buchou, this kid knows my name and she refuses to leave. What should we do?"

Eji pounced on the little one eagerly voiced out his opinions, "Nya, maybe she is your niece Momo!". This earned started looks from Momo as he spluttered, "I have no niece. Moreover, this kid looks like Ecizhen!"

The little girl became the centre of the whole club's attention. Murmurs like " She sure looks like Ecizhen" or " Awwwwwww, how kawaii!" leaked out.

Fuji swooped down in front of the startled girl and asked playfully, "Sa, what is your name?"

".Sa..Sakura!" The little girl replied happily.

Eji plucked the kid out of Momo's arms and started glomping on her. This continued until …

"Sempais, sorry I am late!"

A familiar person entered the tennis courts as he walked slowly towards the group, his face void of any apologetic look.

"Ecizhen, explain yourself." Tezuka ordered coldly.

Ecizhen looked up slightly, giving everyone an I-am-very irritated-today-so buzz-off look

However, before he could even explain himself, Sakura struggled out off Eji's grasp before running towards Ryoma with a look of pure joy on her face. Ryoma was startled as Sakura gave Ryoma a hug.

"Papa!"

END OF FIRST CHAPTER.

PLS REVIEW!

I have not written any fanfics for months and years already, so I may be a bit rusty.

But I feel that I have written fairly well as compared to my other fics.

Please review and give me some inspirations to the later chapters!


	2. One thing leads to another

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis etc.

I apologize for any long and windy POV, but I found it enjoyable to write from a person's point of view.

This is mainly on Ecizhen's POV. Hope you will like it!

Ecizhen's POV

I woke up this morning feeling like crap, as if someone had smashed a heavy metal mallet across my skull. That dull throbbing feeling in my head was driving me insane and my limbs felt like heavy lead or something. Great! I am having a headache! Muttering curses under my breath, I tried to find the cause to my current pathetic state. Was it due to the fact that I had over worked myself by playing tennis for nearly 6 hours straight or was it because I had accidentally drank my father's beer by mistake? Or could it be both?

Yesterday, that old man went about his usual routine of taunting me again and being me, I had to take up the challenge. We went match after match and well after 4 hours, some parts of my body were screaming for rest and were threatening to breakdown. Blame it on my pride. Though I was sorely tempted to a break, I couldn't just slump on the ground like a bag and sand and let that old man have the luxury to gloat. I felt like wiping that cheeky smile of his face. He fired me up once more when he offered me a handicap. That did it! I went on smashing tennis balls at him, ignoring the painful cramps that were building up in my limbs. Sure I had great stamina, but 6 hours straight of tennis right after I had accidentally tasted Inui sempai's juice was a bit too much for me to handle. I remember barfing my guts out as he proudly introduced his Inui's Mega Power Juice that was still under construction. It was meant for today's training. I can't imagine how that adjusted version will taste like when that under construction juice tasted bad enough, like a combination of mouldy cabbage and decomposing meat.

After that tennis match with that old man, he offered me, who was half dead, some **unidentified** drink while he hurriedly gulped down his drink. My senses were numbed and I wasn't my usual alert self. This was due to the fact that I had used up practically every ounce of my strength and I was longing for water to replenish the fluids lost. So heck with those warning signals that was flashing in bright neon lights, I downed the contents in the cup without giving much thought. Bad move though, soon I saw my vision swimming in front of me as I sank into deep oblivion.

So here I am, still lying on my bed, suffering from a terrible hangover and my body was breaking down. Worse still, I could be sick! What the heck. Dragging my rotting carcass of the bed, I swore to myself never to accept any thing from strangers again, especially if that stranger was an old monk who read porn. Well, now I know that my drinking capacity was terrible. I better abstain from beer.

Steadying myself, I stole a look at the clock and my lifeless eyes widen. Oh shit! I am like nearly forty-five minutes late from this morning's training! Buchou will surely make me run hundreds of laps! Why didn't anyone wake me up? It was then I realized that the house was empty. Kaa-san left a note telling me that the good for nothing father of mine went to help out his friend's expanding business. He would be gone for nearly three weeks. Cousin went to chase after Kurupin and Kaa-san went off to work. Apparently that old man told Kaa-san and cousin that I was suffering from a fainting spell or some sort and I needed plenty of rest. That liar. Today's training was extremely important as the next match was nearing and I needed all the practice I can get. Further more, Hyotei "kindly" offered to practice with us before the quarter finals. That evil glint in Atobe's eye made me wonder if there was a plot behind this. I needed practice so that I can overcome Atobe's Rondo of Destruction. I can see it now, me staring proudly, smirking at the defeated Atobe as I start Mada Mada Nae-ing again! Ah, victory will definitely taste sweet.

After washing up and donning my clothes, I lugged my body down the stairs and emptied the cupboards for aspirin to curb that headache. Snatching a dirty green box at the corner of the dark cupboard, I popped in 2 tablets and threw the box into my bag. With this insane pounding in my head, I doubt two tablets would make a difference. Nearly one hour late for practice, I stepped out of the house in a bad mood. I was terribly irritated as my headache had gone from bad to worse and I was still woozy. Maybe I should really stay at home a sleep till this headache disappears or something.

"Pathetic, you can't even handle this little headache. What a weakling." My inner voice scoffed, choosing this moment to declare its existence.

I could not be bothered to reply and carried on with my journey to school. Unfortunately, my inner voice continued its perpetual sarcasm. Great just what I needed. A spoilt talking machine that goes on and on, trampling onto my pride in the process. Needless to say, I was highly pissed. First the headache, next my swimming vision and now annoying mosquito that was buzzing constantly giving me no peace. I am sure that I was fringing the borders of insanity.

Well, just as I was about to snap at my inner voice to shut up, a blinding flash of light lit the entire sky. Who turn on the lights? In that split second, I heard a young girl's laughter. Looking around wildly, I spotted no young little girl. Great! Now I am hallucinating. When that old man returns home, I will surely pound on him for giving me beer, making me suffer like this! Say, that lightning soon disappeared and every thing was back to normal. Or at least I hope so. Dismissing thoughts that it was the works of the supernatural, I continued trudging to school.

Finally! After ten minutes of walking, I reached the tennis courts. There was a commotion going on, the entire club seemed to have their attention on something. Whatever it was, once I saw Buchou's expressionless face, I began to cook up some lame excuse for my late coming. Well technically speaking, I overslept. But it was actually my father's fault for challenging me into 6 hours of tennis and handing me beer, therefore causing me to have a hangover and making me pretty ill. So I should tell Buchou that my father tempted me into a 6 hour tennis match and fed me beer, causing me to have a hangover and… Well, I don't think that is a good excuse! Hey, Inui sempai also had a part in this! Oh wait, that was my fault. I took his water bottle by mistake. But he might have placed the bottle on the bench on purpose, you never know… … Well I am sure of one thing though; Buchou will definitely make me run laps again.

So I strode up, my face pasted with warning signs for everyone to buzz off, headache pounding furiously with me feeling really lousy, I apologized to my sempais for being late. The truth is I wasn't sorry at all. It was that old man's fault! Tezuka austerely demanded for an explanation. Fixing my glare on Buchou, I contemplated to use that pregnant lady's excuse again when I felt something slam into me. Looking down, I was extremely surprised to find this kid who was like half my height clinging onto me like a leech. Confusion was swirling within me as I tried to figure who was the little girl who was hugging me like her favourite teddy bear. I have not been cuddled or hugged for like ages (note that Eji and Momo have not thought of giving him bone crushing hugs yet) therefore I felt a little embarrassed.

Then suddenly …

"Papa!"

………

…………

……………….

The silence was deafening as the rest of the members stared flabbergasted at me. My ears practically swiveled when she shouted.

She called me her father…. Was I hearing things?

Well apparently not. The other members were shocked as well. I could see some of their jaws hitting the ground while others just gaped without any word coming out from their mouths. Fuji-sempai was amused. Buchou was well, stone as usual, but I could see shock flickering through his eyes. Well at least he is still human. The rest of the regulars looked as if they saw Tezuka dancing ballet in front of them. Inui-sempai as usual was madly scribbling away.

I thought someone played a lame joke on me, but it doesn't seem that way. It definitely must be the headache that was still thumping in my skull that caused me to hallucinate then. Perhaps it was due to me being sick and aching causing me to lose my sanity rapidly. Could it be some crazy fan girl that posed as my "daughter"? Or maybe I was dreaming, probably the side effects of popping aspirin, getting drowsy and all. I silently reminded myself to check the labels on medicine boxes before I ingest any medicine from now on.

But she does look a little like me, especially those eyes of hers. I wonder who on earth is she? Sigh! Who cares!

Having a terrible headache, being sick and aching, and a kid that claims that I am her father, what else could go wrong?

--------------------------

Normal POV

Everyone was staring at Ryoma, waiting for his reaction. Unexpectedly, he gently pushed the squealing child away and slumped onto a nearby bench, earning blank looks from many members. Being Ryoma Ecizhen, the second stoner of the group after Tezuka, his face betrayed no expression, other than the slight grimace.

After staring at Ryoma for a few minutes, Eji, who was unsatisfied by the lack of response by Ryoma, was the first to break the silence.

"Nya ochibi! Is she really your daughter?"

There was no response.

However, Eji's bold attempt fired the trigger and a flurry of questions and murmurs aroused.

"You got a wife?"

"How did you manage to hide such a huge secret from us?"

"Ecizhen, how old is your wife?"

"Is that why you were so late today?"

Amidst all the attention, Ryoma still stayed strangely quiet, like he was some mute or his attention was focused on other important matters. All he did was to pull out a dirty green box and started pouring out pills. Nevertheless, questions were still pelted at the first year.

Until Sakura dashed in front of Ryoma, glaring at everyone to shut it. Well, this sudden action caused Ryoma to snap out of whatever he was doing and look at the child weirdly. The rest of the club went as silent as a tomb and resumed staring at the pair.

"Papa is having a hangover, so can't you give him some peace?"

…..

"NANI? ECIZHEN! YOU HAVE BEEN DRINKING?" Momo exclaimed, totally shocked that his guess was right.

Now which was more surprising? Ecizhen drinking or that he has a daughter?

Ryoma ignored the stares and asked Sakura curiously, "How did you know that?"

Sakura stared at Ryoma cheerfully, "Papa rarely has headaches, and it is mostly due to papa's poor drinking capacity!"

Noticing that she got everyone's full attention, she gleefully began her Papa's life stories, "Papa cannot hold beer very well. Even if he drinks a little, he will definitely get knocked out and will sleep for hours. It was always grandpapa that tricked papa into drinking. Grandpapa very mean!"

………..

There was silence again. After all, this was the first time the Seigaku members knew something else about Ecizhen other than his superior tennis skills and his short height. Ryoma studied Sakura for another minute or two before emptying two more tablets from the box.

"Ecizhen, what are you doing?" Momo asked.

Looking up, Ecizhen held the dirty green box in front of Momo and replied, "Aspirin. From the looks of it, I need 4 instead of 2 tablets." He swallowed the pills in a flash and stood up.

"Ecizhen?"

"Aren't we having practice now?" Ecizhen picked up his racket and prepared to strode off when Sakura tugged Ryoma's shirt.

"Papa, I want to play tennis with you!"

A simple request from a little girl.

Sighing inwardly (and oblivious to the members who were waiting to watch a good show), Ryoma spun round and looked at Sakura, "Look, I have this really important match coming soon and I really cannot play with you. Moreover, I am not your father."

"But how does she know about my poor drinking capacity?" Ryoma thought, then dismissing it as a coincident.

…. Bad move.

"Sniff!"

Her huge golden eyes were brimming with tears, Ryoma's eyes widened as he realized that he was treading on dangerous grounds.

"Papa is so mean! Papa promised!" Sakura wailed as she cried her eyes out.

There stood nearly 20 flabbergasted boys, none had experienced such a disaster in their entire lives. Helplessly, they looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

Then a loud shriek that echoed the entire place.

"EH? RYOMA-SAMA HAS A DAUGHTER?"

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AH! A new chappie as a Christmas present for everyone who read this fic. Hope you will review and treat that as a Christmas pressie to me!

I hope I got the character of the little girl correct; they love attention and cries sometimes when things are not in their favour.

I thought the part where Sakura went forward and glared at everyone to shut it was a blast, though it was only a split father and daughter moment.

Pls also review if you have any ideas for the story, b4 the story goes all dry and boring.


	3. To pacify a daughter

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis

I felt that Ryoma should handle this shock based on his character, you noe silently shocked and all, and not out of character like going crazy, fainting instantly or spluttering nonsense and stuff.

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Ryoma thought things was bad enough. News of a little girl bawling in the middle of the tennis courts will be spreaded throughout the entire school like a wildfire. He can see it now, the newsletter headlines screaming, "MORNING SHOCK: GIRL FOUND CRYING AT TENNIS COURTS. SEIGAKU TENNIS TEAM SUSPECTED BEING INVOLVED IN FOUL PLAY!"

Ryoma quickly dismissed that thought away as he popped another aspirin into his mouth.

However, a sudden shriek that echoed the entire school caused him to choke on that blasted pill. Coughing violently, Ryoma turned to the culprit. Who had the audacity to shriek that loud early in the morning? He could be choked to death! He was too young to die! Ryoma still had to defeat many opponents and clinch the champion!

Only to see a horrified figure shaking violently behind the fence. She was stunned and had a look of dismay all over her face. Pointing at Sakura, she began to splutter incoherent words like she had a fit or something.

"RYOMA-SAMA! IS THIS TRUE?"

It was too early in the morning to have a fan girl and a little girl competing to see who had a healthier pair of lungs. The racket that both female create was enough to kill their ear drums. Ryoma was sorely tempted to empty the box of aspirin into his mouth as he felt his headache developing into a full blown one.

"RYOMA-SAMA! AS THE PRESIDENT OF RYOMA-SAMA'S FAN CLUB, I DEMAND TO KNOW THE TRUTH!"

God, that Tomo girl was going on and on with her tirade and Ryoma was not making any visible actions to stop her. Getting all riled up, she dashed towards Ryoma and cried out, "RYOMA-SAMA IS SUPPOSED TO MARRY ME!"

… …

This was getting far too absurd. The screws in her head must be loose.

Ignoring the hysterical fan girl, Momo turned to Ryoma and piped, "Echizen, you should calm Sakura down."

"Why me?"

"Ochibi was the one who made her cry in the first place!" Kikumaru exclaimed

"Yadda!"

"Echizhen, you are her so-called father, so technically speaking you are responsible for Sakura!" Momo cried exasperatedly. Tomo-chan was still yelling in the background, with her three classmates (Horio and company) desperately trying to silence her.

"Yadda!"

"HORA! ECHIZEN! I SAY YOU ACT LIKE A MAN AND DO IT!" Kawamura shouted swinging a tennis racket dangerously in his hands.

"YADDA!!"

"Echizen! 100 more laps if you don't calm her down NOW!" Tezuka emotionless voice boomed. He was getting tired and irritated by the stubborn first year and the ruckus caused by the two females. "Maybe I should take some aspirin too." He thought inwardly.

Inui raised his flask of Inui's Mega Power Juice and gave Ryoma a morbid smile.

That pig-headed Ryoma stared sullenly at Tezuka before tipping his cap ever so slightly. Marching up to Sakura, he stared down at her silently, hoping she would shut up instantly.

Well she did quieten down but was still sobbing. Sakura obviously wants something to pacify her and Ryoma had a terrible feeling about this.

Looking up to Ryoma with huge teary eyes, Sakura hiccupped a few times before stating her request.

"I want Papa to gimme a horsy ride!"

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Echizen's POV

This morning practice was interrupted by two females; one crying her eyes out while the other ranting on and on about how I was hers and that no one will replace her in my heart and all the other rubbish. They are seriously nutcases. The only thing that they succeeded in doing was two things. One was to aggravate my mental condition and causing my headache to go from bad to worse. That reminds me, this brand of aspirin does not even help. I need to stop by at the pharmacy today, purchase one that has no side-effects or whatsoever.

The other was to tell myself that I will never fall in love and get married. After this experience, I realized that the opposite sex was a bother and were pretty lethal when emotional. Well, the evidence was right in front of my eyes. A swooning fan girl that was unstoppable when fired up never spared a thought for my ear drums and a "daughter", who was wailing, was well, increasing the noise level by a notch. If females were like this, I shudder to think how I husbands can tolerate their wives mood swings and their children's' bid for attention. Furthermore, my mind was only on tennis and nothing else. Love wasn't in my vocabulary in the first place.

Indeed, the opposite sex are definitely not someone to be trifled with.

Anyway, I wasn't too pleased when my sempais asked me to calm that Sakura kid down. It was her fault that she cried so easily and all I did was to state the truth. I am not her father and I have this important match approaching. It was far more important than playing hide and seek with some big-eye girl. Moreover, I will not stoop that low to count one to hundred and let my pride crumble into pieces.

However, I soon ran out of luck as Buchou zeroed down on me and ordered me to shut her up. It was that or **another **hundred laps. It was an addition of hundred laps to the probably existing hundred laps for my late coming. In all it was two hundred laps and no matter how great my stamina was, to complete two hundred laps within a day without dying off was as good as waiting for a miracle to happen. Moreover, running with a headache would definitely make my vision swim once more and fainting in front of others was not a thrilling thought. Worse still, Inui-sempai was threatening me with his juice again. I seriously don't want to end up in the hospital after practice today! Who knows what is passing through in his twisted mind! I am starting to develop a phobia of his drink. Wait a minute, I am already terrified of his drink. A mention of it can send shivers down my back.

Literally being COERCED, I grudgingly trudged towards her, none too happy about this. I really hoped that she could stop her water works and spare me a few minutes of misery. Of course that was wishful thinking. I swear even though she was all teary and stuff, she had that evil glint in her eye, like she was cooking up something evil. My six sense told me to make a run for it, heck with those laps and juice! Regretfully, I stood rooted to the ground and waited for that kid to pass my death sentence.

So obviously I was horrified when she told me her demands. _A horsy ride! _ _Me going down on all fours, letting her sit on my back and treat me as a real horse!_ NO WAY! I am NEVER going to degrade and be an animal! Never in a thousand years! The other members were obviously amused. Horio and the other two could not believe their ears. So were the rest of the members. Fuji-sempai had this smile of apprehension which I would love to wipe it off, Kikumaru-sempai was bobbing up and down, opening showing his excitement. Buchou was as usual stoning, showing no expression or whatsoever. But he was shaking slightly, like he was forcing down a burst of laughter. The other regulars were also anticipating this horsy ride. I mean who wouldn't? After all, the famous Ryoma Echizen has NEVER EVER done any thing out of character in his ENTIRE LIFE. Not after the day when I managed to get back my father for disgracing my name during pre-school. That old man was lusting after the opposite sex as usual. The bad thing was that he was going gaga over my classmates' MOTHERS and doing that disgraceful act right in front of my peers. In the name of honour (blah blah), I gave him a hard kick in the balls and was terribly satisfied to see him writhing in pain, and cursing blemishes under his breath.

That was actually the last time I actually did something out of character. Anyway, I was tempted to rip off the camera that Kikumaru sempai was trying to hide. I am hundred percent sure he was going to use it for black mail. The last time I caught him taking pictures of me after drinking Inui-sempai's concoction, he insisted that he was raising funds for the club. Selling pictures to crazy fan girls or to rivals that I have offended wasn't sitting well with me.

I squatted down and placed my palms on the dusty ground ever so slowly. Closing my eyes, I was hoping that the ground would open up and swallowed me as a whole. Farewell, dignity and pride. May we meet again some day! Obviously that kid was oblivious to my pains as she happily trotted over and heaved herself onto my back. My scowl deepened as shame within me increased ten folds.

"Move horsy move!" That annoying kid chirped.

Growling in anger, I inched forward, as if I was dragging a ten ton weight after me. Flashes were emitted as the devil's spawn gleefully started to snap away on his camera. Fuji-sempai had this morbid smile on his face. He sure adores people getting tortured. What a sadist. There was a collective gasp among the members as they could not believe their eyes. Right in front of them, there was me in a humiliating position, pacifying a scheming child. Inch by inch, I moved like a snail, with that brat trampling on my pride in the process. Treating my neck as a leash, she abruptly grabbed hold of it, almost strangling me. That did it! Wheezing heavily, I threw her unceremoniously off my back and hurriedly stood up, glaring daggers at that imp. Wallowing in self pity, I tried to salvage the remains of my dignity by pulling my cap as low as possible.

The Tomo-chan girl went limp and fainted when she realized that her Ryoma-sama was in such a humiliating position. It obviously didn't fit well with her cool image of me which was well implanted in her puny brain. The trio (Horio…) panicked and quickly

grabbed onto any container and tipped the contents to rouse her. Well bad luck for her they grabbed Inui-sempai's bottle. She woke up obviously, and with a piercing scream that could shatter glass, her eyeballs rolled to the back of her head and she blacked out again. Well that was very much the end of her.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Normal POV

Sakura had her bit of fun and was satisfied, unaware as the trouble she caused. And being the good girl she was, she obviously had to show her appreciation. Right?

Yup! To show how polite and appreciative she was, she ran towards the seated Ryoma and leaped onto his lap. Ignorant of all dangers, she gave Ryoma a big hug and said, "Thank You, Papa!".

Then unexpectedly, she planted a kiss on his cheek.

Awwwwwwww! Now that's daddy's good girl! Right?

Too bad Ryoma doesn't think so.

Ahhhh! Finally posted this up! Had difficulty writing the opening of the story so had brainstorming for nearly 3 days and another 3 days to type. Even during shopping I was thinking about it. Thankfully my sister who is a lot more creative than me gave me some ideas. My sis a **loyal** yaoi fan who goes gaga over two parings; Ran/Ken of Weiss Kreuz and Tala/Kai of Beyblade. She said my vocab wasn't crude enough. Hello? Mine is general rating here.

To those who were expecting something else, very sorry as I wanted to make this more humorous. Hope you will like it. As for the mother… well ………………

I promise in the next chappie, they will leave the tennis courts. Definitely. Three chappie all the same venue must be darn boring rite?

Sch starting, hopefully can still post consistently.

Was terribly happy when there were reviews. Make me a happier person by reviewing more!


	4. Meeting of relatives

I am really terribly sorry that I never update for that long. I had orientation camp for a week, and then on Friday I came back from camp and went to secondary cca fair. I really miss my secondary school life and going into tertiary education scares me a bit. And I was told I could not update chappies for a little while as I violated one of the rules in 3 of my fanfics which were done like 2 yrs ago. I was also busy designing this damn simple Edward Elric wallpaper. **Please note that I will try to update as fast as possible but it may stretch to once a month of fanfic updates, considering the subject combi I took is freaking me out.**

"Nya Ochibi, so you will bring Sakura-chan home."

"…"

"Saaa, we will pop down to your house later."

"…"

"That's right Echizen. Your sempais will help you alleviate your suffering!"

"…"

"THAT'S RIGHT ECHIZEN! WE SEMPAIS WILL DEFINITELY HELP YOU!"

"…"

"Nya ochibi, aren't you a little too quiet?"

All heads were turned and eyes were focused on Ryoma, who was currently stoning away on the dingy sofa. His cap was pulled down as low as possible and was covering his eyes.

"Saa, give him some space. After all, he just went through a shock." Fuji piped, his face plastered with a huge morbid smile.

"Indeed!" Inui added, with his glasses gleaming in the light, " I collected good data."

Momo and Kaidoh sniggered quietly as they recounted the event prior to that, only to get hit by flying tennis balls which were aimed for their heads.

"OUCH! ECHIZHEN! What do you hink you are doing? Treating your sempais with disrespect!" Momo waved a threatening fist at Ryoma as Kaidoh gave Ryoma a death glare. Ryoma countered Kaidoh's glare with a stare just as poisonous and returned to his normal stoning state.

Now you must be wondering what happened to our poor Ryoma-sama. Nothing much actually. He just experienced a mental state of shock. That's all.

Fifteen minutes ago, Ryoma was coerced and grudgingly gave Sakura a horsy ride, trampling on his pride in the process. Fourteen minutes ago, Ryoma flung Sakura off to prevent himself from getting strangled. Thirteen minutes ago, Sakura ignored all dangers and leaped on Ryoma's lap to give him a hug.

Twelve minutes and thirty seconds ago, Sakura gave Ryoma a peck on his cheek to show her appreciation.

Twelve minutes and twenty seconds ago, chaos took over.

Ryoma went absolutely rigid after his daughter's display of appreciation. Despite his frozen state, thousands of thoughts were flooding into his brain instantly, going on an overload. Let's take a peek into his brain after that priceless moment.

Ryoma's POV

Does she know what she just did? Doing that in front of the whole team is as good as strangling me and throwing my rotting carcass into the woods! Years ago, I swore to myself that I will never let any one, ANYONE, come within ten centremetres of my cheek. My first kiss was just stolen by that brat! Argh!!!

Everything happened so fast. A moment ago, I was just wallowing in misery, cursing my luck as I mused over that unfortunate and embarrassing display when she ran to me as fast as her little legs could carry her and leaped onto my lap. She then thanked me and gave me a huge bear hug again. Really, one of these days, I really have to think of ways to have a ten meter radius around me, to restrict her from approaching me.

Suddenly, she dropped a huge bomb on me, shocking me senseless. Damaging my already bruised pride.

Sure, she just planted a TEENY, LITTLE peck on my cheek. Aww, how lovable, this kind of spirit must live on forever. End of story.

What she didn't know was how she aggravated my already deteriorating mental condition and the already chaotic scene. I do not really remember what happened after that. All I know was that I was in the restroom with a face towel in my hand. The door of the restroom was locked so that none of m sempais or tennis members would barge in and laugh at my current pathetic state. Well Kikumaru sempai was still bobbling up and down, determined to make full use of his camera. He must be convinced that pictures of me down in the dumps could sell like hot cakes. He was slowly evolving into a sadist, Fuji-sempai's successor

Anyway, Kikumaru-sempai was desperate to peek at me. Being the acrobat he was, he managed to jump and clung onto the window that was located high above and peered in.

"Nya! Ochibi! You don't need to be so shy. It is normal that your own daught-"

A jet of water met his face, causing Kikumaru-sempai to yelp and let go. There was a loud thump outside and Oishi –sempai concerned voice could be heard. I was terribly annoyed when I saw Kikumaru-sempai's face. Hey, someone was trying to take a breather here! To sort out my thoughts! Kikumaru-sempai hit a raw nerve when he mentioned the word "daughter". With some kind anger clouding my thick skull, I grabbed a near by hose, aimed at Kikumaru-sempai and turned on the water full blast. It was satisfying to see the surprised look on his face. Kikiumaru-sempai should have learnt his lesson now. Never provoke me when I am moody.

The commotion outside was great. Many people were shouting at once. Whatever for? They got so excited over something out of the ordinary; some little brat trotting over and giving me a kiss. Hey! I was the victim who suffered great humiliation and getting my cheeks tainted by the saliva of that little girl! I should be the one shouting and swearing! Not them going absolutely hysterical outside the toilet! Some were asking me to come out, while others were murmuring something incoherently. I suspected that they were discussing about the great show they just witnessed. A few were applauding the clueless girl for her great display of affection while one was yelling at me to unlock the door as he was in need of emptying his bladder.

"Echizen! Get out now! You are hogging the toilet!"

That's right. That cold, unfeeling Buchou's voice boomed ever so loudly. Using the fast, efficient and direct method to drive me out. Sighing deeply, I pulled my cap as low as possible as I unlocked the door. A figure dashed past me and entered the toilet. Humiliation was deafening as the crowd went silent immediately. The look in some of their eyes told me that they were containing their laughter.

After Kawamura-sempai towed me to the club house in his BURNING state, Buchou ordered the rest of the members to resume practice. Horio and the other two volunteered to take that Tomo girl to the sick bay. Horio borrowed Inui-sempai's bottle.

"What do you need it for?" Oishi-sempai piped.

"You know… in case she wakes up screaming and stuff… to sedate her."

So Horio left with the water bottle and the regulars got together to discuss what to do with that brat. After threatening me with thousands of laps and Inui-sempai's new concoction, I grudgingly agreed to bring that brat home.

End of Ryoma's POV

"REALLY? To Papa's house?" Sakura squealed in delight as she ran round Ryoma.

"Yes." Ryoma replied, as he began to sigh deeply once more.

His sempai's ordered him to return home immediately, saying that he would not be able to concentrate much in school with his terrible hangover any way. True, he had nearly empties my supply of aspirin and was dangerously on the border of getting addicted to them. Therefore, a defeated looking first year and an ecstatic five year old left the school compound for Ryoma's house.

"Now listen, there are some rules you have to follow in my house." Ryoma turned and emphasized each word."

"Hai Papa!"

"Number one, always hide yourself and do not talk or appear in front of anyone in the house."

Sakura gave a huge thumb up.

"Number two, you must never ever leave the room."

Sakura bobbed up and down like a jack-in-a-box.

"Number three, in case you have been exposed. You must yell for me."

Sakura gave an enthusiastic nod.

"Number four. Just… Just listen to whatever I say."

Sakura agreed by imitating Kikumaru, jumping about like a monkey.

Ryoma stared at Sakura and sighed inwardly, " Good, if you follow these rules. Both of us will be happy and we can pull this through together."

Sakura gave a longing look to Ryoma, "Papa, could you carry me?"

Ryoma just ignored her and walked away silently.

-------------------------------------

"I am home!" Ryoma called out as he beckoned Sakura into the house. Pointing towards the stairs, Ryoma half crept half dragged Sakura down the hall way.

"Ryoma-kun! Why are you back so early?" Nanako asked in surprised as she saw Ryoma walked past the dining area.

Ryoma pushed Sakura behind the wall and put on a calm face, " I had this hangover and was feeling quite-"

"AUNTY NANAKO!"

Sakura jumped out of her hiding place as she waved cheerily to Nanako. Ryoma was speechless and no coherent word came out of his mouth.

Great so much for rule number one.

"Aunty Nanako? How come your hair is so long?" Sakura asked as she approached Nanako and grabbed her hair.

Sakura just thrashed rule number three into the bin.

Ryoma rushed frantically towards Sakura as he tried to ask Sakura to shut up.

"Stop playing with Nanako's hair and come here!" Ryoma hissed.

Nope, Sakura forgot rule four totally and was enticed by the long silky locks in her hand.

Ryoma might as well scrape the whole rule system away.

"Ryoma-kun… she is…."

Ryoma tried to come out with a logical explanation, "Well you see, my sempai wanted me to take care of his sibling for a couple of days and I was obliged to help him."

Nanako raised an eye brow as she squatted down the faced Sakura, "Hello sweetie, what's your name?"

"Sakura! Aunty Nanako! Don't you remember? I am Sakura Echizen!" Sakura replied with a curtsy.

…….

"Nani?"

Ryoma hurriedly pulled Sakura aside as he murmured some lame excuse he could come up with.

"Uhhh…. It just happens that someone else has a surname as us!"

"OKAY. But I am surprised. Our surname is pretty uncommon"

"I need to bring Sakura up now!" Ryoma said quickly as he towed Sakura up the stairs.

"Uh Papa? Where –" Ryoma covered Sakura's mouth as he saw his cousin's confused face once more.

" She is just ummm… obsessed over her father and she thinks her father is me!" Ryoma shouted to Nanako.

"Ummm ya, Ryoma-kun. Just make sure she feels comfortable here will you?" Nanako said uncertainly as she began to walk off.

Ryoma spun round and stared hard at Sakura, "Didn't I tell you not to reveal yourself? Have you forgotten the rules I told you?"

"Huh? What rules?"

Sigh, this day just had to get better.

"Yo Bishounen! Why are you back home so early?"

"GRANDPAPA!!!"

Or maybe it could get worse….

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well I think that Echizen is an uncommon surname.

Hope I get the characteristics of little children right. You know short attention span and all that kind of things. Yes and about the mother, I try to reveal a bit of her in the coming chappies. **Note that I will try.**

Yup, hope you can review to keep me going!"


	5. Exposed

I had writer's block as usual, therefore I rewatched some of the prince of tennis episodes again. Yup and it just so happened that I happen to watch the episode where Nanjiroh was tailing Ryoma and Momo was trying to protect Ryoma's date. Then I had a rough idea on how to start. If not I don't know how long I am going to take. Tried to post this early as I MAY be going into serious mugging again (sigh) and I won't be allowed to type till my major exams are over (and that maybe 2 years later. (double sigh, I just survived one major exam 3 months ago) **But** I said maybe, it all depends on my decision whether I wanna choose this education route of mugging for another 2 years and live another deprived teenage hood. I haven't decided yet, cracking my brain over difficult choices.

This chapter was two weeks late as I was watching Get Backers. Very nice anime, but a terrible ending, I was terribly depressed. It didn't help when shaman king manga (last book) ended so crappily, I was terribly pissed.

So plus the delay due to watching of anime, this fic should have been posted up like 3 weeks ago.

I wanted to make 2 chappies into one to compensate readers, in case I got too busy in school and have no time to type. However, the 2nd chapter was far too long and I had to chop half of it off so here is phppsmss presenting to you 1¼ chappies.

And just a note for those who did not really understand this story, Sakura is from the future.

**Just read episode summaries of 162 to 174. Ryoma is going for the US Open! He is leaving Seigaku! He can't participate in the Nationals! WAH! TT **

-

Nanjroh was in his room, humming to himself as he flipped through his dirty magazine. He was in a cheery mood today even though he was sacked just hours after he started work. Swooning over swimsuit clad women was obviously not one of the job requirements therefore his buddy just hurriedly sent him packing. But he did not care! No sir! Never! Not after he managed to lay his large hands on this limited edition magazine! It was said that the pictures in this magazine were "better" and more in number. He was extremely lucky to have spotted this huge crowd of males surrounding a roadside stall on his way back home. Curiosity killed the cat, like what many always said. But Nanjiroh's curiosity benefited him greatly as he found out that the magazine was on sale. Fighting his way through the crowd, he managed to grab a copy of it, flung the money hopefully at the stall holder and dashed off gleefully with the magazine.

"It must be fate." Nanjiroh mused as he stared dreamily at the pictures.

However, his peace was interrupted by the mini commotion outside. Irritated, he looked up and strained his ears. It sounded like his son. Why was that brat at home that early? Being the nosey old man he was, he decided to check it out.

Stuffing his dirty magazine under his pillow, he walked and peered out, leaning against the doorframe in the process. Ah, there was that brat, looking unusually flustered. And what was that thing behind him? Oh well…

"Yo bishounen! Why are you back home so early?"

Ryoma spun round and gave Nanjiroh a rude stare, trying to cough out some insult to shut Nanjiroh up. It was then Sakura managed to figure out who was that man dressed in old robes.

She rushed forward and cried out with great enthusasium.

"GRANDPA!"

-

Nanjiroh's POV

Huh? I must be dreaming. There was this little girl that sped out and called me grandpa. Must have drunk too much beer yesterday. After several rounds of cheek pinching, confirming that I wasn't in la la land, I began to wonder about the Ws and H.

That little girl was jumping around like any hyperactive kid, pointing at me and tugging Ryoma's shirt.

"Papa! Grandpapa looks younger now! He used to have more white hair you know! And he wore robes with big big flowers!"

Papa? Grandpapa? I turned to that brat for explanations only to see him highly frustrated, giving me the you-better-not-ask-anything look. It was up to the intelligent Nanjiroh to solve this mystery!

**Nanjiroh's data base**

**Keyword: **Papa

**Sub-keywords: **Grandpapa

A little kid who looks like Ryoma

_Deciphering…_

**Answer:** Ryoma's daughter, my granddaughter

…

_Ryoma's daughter._

A flood of emotions numbed my senses as everything just clicked into place. It was a few seconds later before I reacted. This is… this is… this is too good to be true! Thank the gods! After many years, he finally got attracted to the opposite sex! I have almost given up on him after he showed no hint of attraction to any girl I tried to match make him with. That's it! I should ask Nanako to buy offerings for the God of Love as a sign of my appreciation. Maybe I should get some for the god of marriage as well…

With immense happiness bubbling within me, I rushed up to him and gave him a bone crushing hug, "YOU HAVE A DAUGHTER! As your father, I am really happy for you! Although this happened a bit too fast… But oh well-"

"Oyachi! Stop all these crap! I DO NOT HAVE A DAUGHTER!" That stupid son of mine defended himself.

"NONSENSE! The evidence is right in front of you!" I pointed to that kid, "After exposing you to pornographic magazines for years, all my effort has not gone to waste! So tell me! Who is the lucky girl? Is it that long pig-tailed girl? Where did you all meet? Where did you two –"

"OYACHI! One more word and I will-"

"How many years have you been hiding her?"

That brat looked like he was going to die of high blood pressure anytime soon. And so I gave him a final push.

"Looks like your mum and I need to discuss about the wedding soon."

That did it. With his face as black as thunder, he looked like he was thirsty for blood. Thinking that his puny sized figure could punch the daylights out of me, he charged forward like some insane bull that saw red and attempted to tackle me. Hmph, stupid kid. With my amazing reflexes, I stepped aside with ease and grabbed that charging idiot by the collar.

"Achar! Kids nowadays have no respect for their parents." I swooped down to his level and gave him a huge smile, showing off my pearly whites. That kid broke free of my grasps, gave me a glare that could kill and towed that girl into his room.

While I had a mission to do.

Rushing down the stairs, I hollered for my niece. Nanako peeped out of the kitchen and gave me a curious look.

"Nanako, I am going to the shrine."

-

Normal POV (Ryoma's room)

"Baka oyachi!" Ryoma muttered as he slumped onto his bed, ignoring Sakura completely. Not that Sakura minded anyway. She used this opportunity to explore Ryoma's room, chancing upon a photo album. It radiated a dark ominous aura, as if the album was warning Sakura not to touch it. Being the little adorable yet ignorant kid she was, she flipped through the album anyway, oblivious to all impending dangers.

Ryoma on the other hand was grumbling to himself, cursing Nanjiroh with all kinds of colorful language that he could think of. However, he was interrupted with peals of laughter. It sounded to suspicious for his own good, but thinking that Sakura was just entertaining herself in ways which only little kids could think of, Ryoma did not bother to check. Soon the laughter increased in volume and our dear Ryoma was getting highly irritated. Tilting his head at an angle, it took a few seconds before his eyes widen in realization.

"Give that back!" Ryoma ordered, stretching his hand out.

Sakura just continued laughing as she pointed to one of the photographs. "Papa looks so cute!" she replied as zeroed onto a photo where Ryoma was taking swimming lessons at a young age.

If it was any old, normal photo which should Ryoma swimming normally, he could care less. But the problem was that the photographer was Nanjiroh and that spelled trouble. After all, his father had a weird mind and loved to snap photos of Ryoma in embarrassing positions. Ryoma had to confiscate that photo album from his father a couple of years back when Nanjiroh was flashing that album proudly to their visitors for the umpteenth time. It was a traumatic experience for poor Ryoma as he remembers wrestling that album in front of the visitors with his scarlet face burning with embarrassment.

"Mama likes tennis too…" Sakura murmured as her eyes strayed to a photo of Ryoma playing tennis.

The mood in the room somehow changed, with Sakura behaving unusually serious and Ryoma falling silent.

"Mama, Papa, Grandpapa and Sakura all lived in this huge house in America. Big red flowers in the garden. They were Mama's favourites. Sakura always spend lots of time in the garden with mama…" Sakura muttered endlessly.

Ryoma still did not open his mouth.

Sakura paused briefly before she continued her life story, "Mama always prepares bento for me before I go to school and I will always say, "Very Delicious!". Then Mama would always smile and it makes Sakura very happy. Mama also makes bento for papa too!" (My young cousins LOVE to talk like this)

"…Your mother… how…-" Ryoma asked uncertainly, well aware of the awkwardness of the topic.

"Papa loves Mama a lot." Sakura said simply, "Even Grandpapa says so and Sakura agrees too."

Meanwhile, at the shrine…

Nanako stared in bewilderment at her uncle as Nanjiroh entered the shrine with a big, happy smile plastered on his face. She shook her head and gave a long sigh; the screws in her uncle's head were loose again. As far as she knew, her uncle never believed in gods whatsoever even those he was a monk, or looked like one at least. She remembers the last time her uncle actually set foot into a shrine was a couple of years back, when her aunty (Rinko) had to literally drag her stubborn husband into the shrine. It was only when Rinko bribed him before he would step into the shrine. She will never figure out her uncle's repulsion against shrines.

Then suddenly, her uncle shocked her senseless today when he proudly announced that he would be trotting to the shrine to offer prayers, ensuring that he took along his prized sake. What's more, he was going to pay tribute to the Gods of Love and Marriage. As she watched her uncle donated a large sum of money, Nanako began to sense something fishy going on. Since when was her uncle that devoted to religion? Since when did he even believe any of these?

Well Nanjiroh did not help her to understand the situation. When Nanako approached him to clarify her doubts, Nanjiroh just gave her another of his damned mysterious smile.

"You got to be so proud of Ryoma! That brat finally made his move!"

And he went ahead leaving a very clueless Nanako behind.

"I am really grateful what you did for that brat and I really appreciate it! After years of hard work, it finally paid off!." Nanjiroh started, wiping off an imaginary tear.

Picking up his sake, he continued, "Here is my prized sake, top grade stuff. It is really difficult to obtain in this area. I hope that wedding bells will clash soon. You should know what I am saying right?"

And after his terribly brief prayer(after all, he does not visit shrines often), he started shaking the bamboo container for fortunes. Soon the deciding stick fell out and he strode over to the fortune teller whose appearance rivaled Nanjiroh. The fortune teller flipped was deep in thought for quite some time before he spoke those words of wisdom.

"He will reach there eventually, but may stray along the way."

Sitting in an unrefined manner as he dug his nose, Nanjiroh gave the fortune teller "the look" before dismissing it as a hoax.

But being Nanjiroh…

"So you mean, that stupid son needs someone to guide him along the way? To watch over him?"

"Erm…. Yeah. Yes… yes."

Heck whether that fortune teller was a hoax. This was a chance to "watch over" Ryoma and his granddaughter and it was too good of a chance to miss.

Back at Ryoma's house…

It has been a couple of hours since that "father-to-daughter" talk between Ryoma and Sakura and Sakura reverted back to her gaki- self and went round the house on a rampage, much to Ryoma's horror. Thank god his family members were out to god-knows-where and would not have to witness Ryoma tearing after Sakura to prevent further damage. It all started when Sakura spotted Karupin at the doorway and being the little kid who had short attention span, she broke off the so-called serious conversation immediately and went to cuddle the "cute fluffy thing". Unfortunately, Karupin does not like strangers more than Nanjiroh and Sakura should count her lucky stars that Karupin was not in the mood to attack anyone that day. However, Sakura chased after the poor cat which darted around the house. Then Sakura realized that the cat must be playing catching with her therefore she obliged and went after it at top speed – which means going under furniture and knocking down stuff. And that also means Ryoma running after her to pick up the pieces, prevent her from doing any more damage and saving his pet from the pursuing monster.

Damage was mainly confined to the living room so far and Nanjiroh's processions seemed to have the worse hit. His magazines were scattered all over the room as the cat and the girl treated those magazines as door mats. A handful of those "dirty" magazines were torn due to constant trampling and the others were awfully crumpled. Poor Ryoma had to pick them up and store them properly. Don't get the wrong idea. Ryoma did not give a damn about his father's magazines and approved of sending that trash to the incinerator. However, at the thought of his sempais' finding out about Nanjiroh's obsession or Sakura accidentally stumbling on one or his father giving him hell later was a little too much for him to bear.

It was nearly half an hour later before everything was calm once more and Ryoma managed to repair all damage done. By done Sakura was tired and gave up on chasing that animal, much to Karupin's delight. Instead Sakura began to wonder about the house. On the other hand, Ryoma was inwardly glad that the house was peaceful and quiet once more and did not really mind Sakura's sudden disappearance.

However, the peace did not prevail as Eji's voice pierced through the silence like a knife cutting through melted butter.

"Nya! Ochibi! We are here!"

Ryoma was extremely pissed and dragged his rotting carcass off the couch to open the gate.

At the same time…

Sakura was exploring the second storey of the house and she was partically attracted to the brightly colored bed sheets in the master bedroom.

"Woah! This bed is bigger than Papa's bed!" Sakura was terribly impressed as she climbed onto the bed and treating it like a trampoline. Up and down she went as the bed sheets began the crumple and pillows began to fall out of place. It was then that she suddenly spotted something at the corner of her eye. Turning her head, her eyes fell onto a brightly colored magazine, which was actually the magazine Nanjiroh hid under the pillow.

"Ah! Grandpapa has books like this but Papa refused to let me see it" Sakura muttered as she recalled the past/future. Shifting into a comfortable position, she scanned the cover.

"Woah! Colorful pictures!"

And Sakura flipped open the magazine.

Back at the living room…

Eji was starting on his routine of glomping on ochibi and the rest of the regulars began to settle down on the floor. Ryoma was pretty surprised that they arrived with an arm load of books and other stuff. Tezuka was absent though as he had to attend to other private matters.

"Sempais… what are those books for?"

Ryoma prodded at the towering pile of books and it wobbled dangerously. Some books were at least a few hundred pages thick with yellow pages sticking out at odd angles. The musty smell emitted by some indicated how ancient some of the books were and how long they were stuck in the attic.

Eji sprang up as he began to do a brief introduction.

"Nya, ochibi. We told you that we as your sempais will help you alleviate your suffering."

"And…" Ryoma raised an eyebrow.

"We went to dig out some references that may be helpful for you." Eji pointed at the tall stack of paperbacks. "Nya, I got this from a nearby bookshop!" Eji tossed one of the books to Ryoma.

"How to communicate with you child… … Kikumaru sempai, I don't need this…"

Eji ignored Ryoma as he went through the list of books. Meanwhile, the rest of the regulars went to help Eji.

"I picked this out for you Echizen!" Momo stuffed a yellow book into Ryoma's hands.

"PARENTING FOR IDIOTS!" The cover screamed at Ryoma's face. Ryoma somehow had this feeling that he was thoroughly insulted. Scowling, he was about to argue with Momo when he saw Oishi handing him a book.

"Responsible parenting? Oishi-sempai I-"

"This is very important for Sakura's upbringing." Grabbing the book, the mother of Oishi flipped to various tagged pages, "See Echizen, this page tells you the dos and don'ts. This page tells you how to lecture your child properly. You don't want to let Sakura have a scarred childhood, do you? It is bad for the child's development and –" Oishi rambled on and on, it was as if Oishi was the father of Sakura.

Inui finally stood up, glasses gleaming in the light, in his hands were two very old books.

"Echizen, these books were past down in my family for generations. It was because of these books that I became a data player."

Ryoma peered boredly at the cover of the books, "Inui-sempai, what has statistics and math textbooks got to do with Sakura?" Ryoma held those books up, giving Inui a questioning look.

"Math is the basis to everything! Percentages, numbers…" Inui said in a dreamy voice. Pointing to "Math for preschoolers", Inui piped, "I have the complete collection of math books for every age. It develops Sakura's potential in math as she grows up. I shall lend it to you after you completed these books. Say, I have my very own Inui's juice recipe book. Maybe I should impart some secret recipes to her. Hee hee hee…" Inui gave a creepy smile which froze everybody's blood.

"Ano… Echizen… I …"

"Speak up Taka-san. Here!" You should have guessed it.

"HORA! ECHIZEN! IT IS IMPORTANT THAT SAKURA REMEMBERS HER CULTURAL ROOTS! THIS BOOK IS THE PRIDE OF MY FAMILY!" Taka-san swung the book dangerously at Ryoma. Ryoma managed to catch the heavy book in the nick of time before that book can create a hole in the wall.

"Yadda, history is so boring!"

"I SAY READ IT!"

"YADDA!"

"READ!" Taka-san gave a furious bellow and he almost smashed the thick book against Ryoma's face.

This created a mini commotion as Ryoma, probably due to a stressed out morning, snapped and almost went head on with Taka-san. Kaidoh and Momo had to refrain Ryoma from practically lunging at Taka-san as the others went to stop Taka-san. The sadistic Fuki just stepped back and enjoyed the great show. It was understandable why Ryoma snapped anyway. I mean, no matter how calm and patient a person was, having a splitting headache plus all the burden of taking care of a hyperactive child was a bit too much for him. Plus all the embarrassing moments he experienced this morning and his father finding out about Sakura was straining his mental health.

It was after sometime that Ryoma finally managed to calm down and they managed to force the racquet out of Takashi's hands. Frowning, Ryoma ignored the sheepish Takashi as he dragged his body and dumped it onto the armchair. He really could not care if Fuji brought Yuuta's old baby clothes over or if Kaidoh donated his precious bandana. He did not bother to intervene when another fight began between Kaidoh and Momo (Momo again retorted that the bandana had a horrifying shade of green). All he wanted was to wake up from this horrible nightmare and to have some peace and quiet in the house.

It was then Kikumaru and Momo (after fighting) decided to explore the Echizen's household and of course poor Ryoma had to go after them to prevent any damage done again. So there was Inui, Fuji, Takashi, Kaidoh and Oishi left in the living room.

And they did not sense impending danger approaching.

While everyone was minding their own business, the door was suddenly pulled open as Sakura entered. All eyes fell on her as Sakura tried to figure out who were the strange big people in the living room.

"Ano… are you all Papa's friends?" Sakura enquired.

"Er… Yes something like that…" Oishi said.

Sakura stared at Oishi for a few seconds before her eyes lit up in realization.

"Ah! Uncle Oishi!" Sakura cried, approaching Oishi as she continued, "I could not reconise you at first though, you had more hair."

"Ah… yes…" Oishi started, oblivious to the stares from the other regulars.

Sakura took a quick look around before piping, "Where is Papa? I need to ask him something."

"Echizen went off with Momo and Eiji." Fuji butted in.

"Yup, we will help you then." Oishi offered genourously, with the other regulars nodding their heads.

Sakura seated herself comfortably in the middle of all the regulars, with Oishi by her side. She took out the magazine that she was reading earlier on and flipped to a particular page before asking, "Uncle Oishi, why aren't these girls wearing anything?" Sakura flashed it for all to see, unaware of the sensivity of the topic.

Gaping sounds greeted Sakura as the rest of the regulars stared speechlessly at the magazine in her hands. Oishi, Kaidoh and Kawamura turned bright red as they processed the images, resembling goldfishes deprived of water. Kaidoh immediately covered his eyes and muttered something about having to scrub and sterilize his eyes for a month. Kawamura started muttering incoherent words, babbling nonsense throughout. Fuji started laughing as Sakura stared expectantly at Oishi for answers. Inui, on the other hand, dropped his pen as colour drained from his face. It was a few minutes later before he flipped open his notebook, scribbling down great data at breakneck speed. The gleeful look on his face was far too suspicious to be dismissed as the normal Inui's excited look.

"Saa Inui, the pen is going to break soon if you write that fast." Fuji spoke with a morbid smile on his face. True enough, the pen was strained as Inui hands were in a blur.

"So Uncle Oishi?" Sakura enquired, pushing the accursed magazine closer to his face. Oishi broke out of his shock and was horrified to see that magazine so near his face. Grabbing the magazine from Sakura, he demanded pointing at the offending magazine , "Sakura! How did you get this?"

"Huh? Oh I found it under Grandpapa's pillow!"

Unfortunately, the shock blocked Oishi's hearing ability and automatically assumed that it was Ryoma who was reading porn. Oishi was a righteous man, an honorable lad who never in his life read or even had a glimpse at porn. He was a principled young man, one strongly against porn! And today he, Vice-captain of Seigaku's tennis team, had his eyes soiled, his reputation kicked about in the mud, his pride crumbling into dust, his values falling into pieces. Today was the first time he ever saw porn, some loose woman dressed so skimpily, it hurt to even take a look. His dignity tottering, his dreams of becoming a decent young man were dashed. And it was all Ryoma's fault for bringing this misfortune onto him.

The gods have tried to make the situation worse as Ryoma suddenly appeared at the doorway, with two of the remaining regulars peering curiously behind him.

"Oishi-sempai, is there anything wrong?" Ryoma asked when he saw Oishi's dazed look.

"Nya Oishi, what is that in your hand?" Eiji dashed forward and grabbed the magazine out of the dazed Oishi's hands and read the contents together with Momo. It wasn't long before they realized why Oishi was in a daze.

"Ochibi! How could you read such stuff! Eiji exclaimed, sorely disappointed that Ryoma was not that pure and innocent junior that he used to know. Momo had the same reaction as Kaidoh.

"Damn, I have to use detergent and wash my eyes now!" Momo waved a fist at Ryoma.

"Har? Sempais, I do not know what you are talking about!" Ryoma defended himself as everyone gave him "the look".

Oishi approached Ryoma as if the world had come to an end. Moral values kicked in as he started his tirade, "Echizen! I can't believe you would do such a thing? Why do you read such stuff? Worse still, you influenced Sakura! Now her mind will be horribly polluted like drain water. You hear me? Drain water!"

"Har?" A confused first year replied.

Ignoring Ryoma, a teary and distraught Oishi flipped through his book on responsible parenting, "According to this book, Sakura may have a traumatic childhood if her case was not dealt with properly. She may experience metal images of nud-…"

"Oishi-sempai what do-" Ryoma shouted.

A magazine landed right smacked on his face. Grabbing the magazine, he opened it and tried to solve the puzzling mystery. His eyes dilated and widen in realization.

Oh shit!

This was just a nightmare.

It was his father's pornographic magazine.

His sempais found out about it, Oishi-sempai about to faint any moment.

And horrors of horrors they thought that he read porn.

Worse still, Sakura read it.

What could be worse?

"Papa, why are those women not wearing clothes?" Sakura tugged Ryoma's shirt.

He was seriously going to give his father hell later on. Make chopped pork out of Nanjiroh.

But first, he needed more aspirin to handle this chaos

Hope you like it. Reviews make my day!


	6. The consequence of indulging in porn

I had writer's block again! My gosh, same sort of pattern huh? Inactive for god knows how many weeks; my mind was sort of fuzzy when it came to writing again. Phew, better get over it. Results for my major exam are out. Did well, however in a dilemma of which path to choose and what to study. If I choose JC, I can say sayonara to you people and this fic. If is the other route, I will still update.

Been down for days now, and I finally put up my warning sign – I am DESPERATE for anime! Yes, my reserves are low or even dry and I am suffering from a lack of anime or manga and worse still, I can't download.

Many reviewers are terribly interested about Sakura's mother. Let's put it this way, I cannot write fluff or you know those kind very well. I believe that fluff or sth like that should be left to those people who are better in language to type. Believe me; some fluff I read made me pretty disgusted. I love to type humour fics. But since so many people wants to find out the mother, obviously I need to alter the story line and present it to you guys right:P But I am still sticking to Ryoma and Sakura father-daughter relationship.

The mother of Sakura is something else…

For Spoilers, pls go to http:shizumaru. wasn't happy.

In fact, it would not be an exaggeration if Ryoma was to say that he felt like mutilating something right now namely a stupid old monk, to let out the stress and tension that have been accumulating within his tiny body.

It definitely would be pleasing to just strangle that idiot and toss his corpse to some nearby drain, then followed by a massive flood of pornographic magazines to accompany him to his afterlife, morals on father-son respect be damned.

To an outsider, his current plight seemed hilarious, downright amusing. It was not everyday that you see Ryoma stuck right in the middle, guarded by all his sempais, treated like a sick/wounded yet dangerous animal. Kaidoh and Kawamura were avoiding eye contact with Ryoma, slowly inching away from the culprit who tainted their eyes cum innocence. Fuji unreadable as always kept grinning like a chesire cat. Inui was writing at an amazing speed, the stack of notebooks kept increasing in height. Kikumaru carried on with his wailing on how his beloved ochibi had shocked him by doing such an inhuman thing. Momo who regarded himself as Ryoma's most trusted sempai decided to guard Ryoma for the sake of his own good. Oishi looked downright stressed out, muttering to himself constantly, pacing about the living room.

It all happened a little while ago, when there was uproar over that little pornographic incident. The accused (Echizen) was facing the heat from his accusers. Ryoma was trying a fruitless attempt of convincing his sempai-tachi that he did not read porn. However, his sempais were not that "gullible" and started "pounding" on him real hard. Tears were shed (by Oishi), shouts were heard (mainly by Echizen, Momo and Kikumaru) and the rest were left alone to accept reality; one should not judge a book by its cover. Sakura was pushed away from Ryoma by Oishi and was left in a corner for self entertainment.

"Echizen!" Oishi exclaimed, "HOW COULD YOU? Have you ever thought of the serious consequences that will occur if you read porn? Sakura will get influenced by your.. your habit and she will go all corrupted! She –" A terribly distressed Oishi broke down from all the stressed accumulated, torrents of tears flowed freely.

"Nya Ochibi! You should seriously reflect on your actions!" Kikumaru lectured Ryoma while offering Oishi a piece of tissue. Oishi accepted it gratefully as he dabbed his tears dry before tossing it to a nearby mountain of used tissues.

Ryoma was adamantly defending himself. He was obviously furious, downright pissed and horribly irritated. He inwardly swore to himself that he would burn every single pornographic magazine he saw.

"Sempai-tachi! I-" Ryoma argued.

"Say no more Echizen! This book says that cases like this must be dealt with extreme care." Oishi started to ramble on and on again.

One look and one will know that Oishi was fringing on the borders of insanity.

"But-"

"Argh! Tezuka! I have failed you! The next pillar of Seigaku indulges in porn!"

It was official. Oishi had lost his marbles.

"Sempais! I DO NOT READ PORN! MY FATHER DOES!" Poor Ryoma snapped and went a little insane.

"Papa is right!" Sakura yelled, as she sensed her dear Papa in danger. Waving her arms protectively, she gave a fierce glare to Oishi and continued, "It is Grandpapa that reads it! Papa never let me touch those magazines!" Sakura inhaled and bellowed, "So please don't accuse Papa anymore!"

Silence reigned and wind blew across the terrain and across the sea.

"If you don't believe, here are all Grandpapa's magazines!" Sakura cried as she pulled open the cupboard. A towering pile of pornographic magazines toppled onto Sakura as she gave a terrified yell, buried under a pile of accursed magazines.

Bad move.

A sickening thud was heard and chaos began once more.

Echizen's POV

It was actually a goodwill mission by the sempais to deliver aid to me in order to alleviate my suffering of taking care of a hyperactive child. Therefore the sudden change of motive seemed unbelievable. Sempais looked as if they have accessed forbidden grounds, attempted what many called a taboo, betrayed their moral rights. The expression on their face was priceless. Oishi-sempai's mouth expanded so huge, flies could happily fly in and start a colony. Kaidoh-sempai and Momo-sempai both showed the "See no evil, touch no evil, hear no evil" look. Using their hand as a barrier, they attempted to block out the unsightly images and hopefully thoughts as well. Kawamura-sempai looked like a fish out of water while Fuji-sempai face was far too amused to say anything. Kikumaru –sempai started ranting on how impure I was.

Stupid incidents come one after another! I don't know how long more I can last before I literally black out and collapse. I am seriously considering a one way trip to the mental hospital and stick there permanently, away from all problems! Why can't a person with a full blown headache have any peace?

When my eyes scanned that suspicious looking magazine, warning bells began to clash against each other and I tossed that damned thing far way. But it was not before I angrily ripped that porn magazine into two. Horrified was an understatement. I felt my world crashing on me, my senses numbed as if I was injected with aneseptic, when I realized what sempai-tachi was so upset about. This dark, deadly secret that I have been trying to hide for so many years was made known to the whole world today. It was embarrassing to let everyone know that your own father read porn. I don't give a damn about destroying the image of that old man! I mean look at him. What kind of impression does he give you anyway? NO matter how I try to see it, he does not have an image of an ex-pro who almost became first in the world. Furthermore, he does not mind letting the public know that he drools over porn and stares at scantily clad women who were like half his age. However, I on the other hand, have an image to keep, a dignity to maintain. Therefore if anyone knows about this dark skeleton in my closet, I will just disappear from the face of this earth and wallow in despair.

Now was the chance to say sayonara to the world and run away from the humiliation.

Then why am I not starting my engines?

Because they thought I READ PORN INSTEAD.

Now that was a huge blow to my nerves and ego. I was crushed. I Ryoma Echizen NEVER READ PORN! After all, reading porn was one of the lowest form of entertainment to oneself. Therefore I was thoroughly insulted when Oishi-sempai started wailing about how I was going to pollute Sakura's mind and all the other nonsense. How could Oishi-sempai have thought that I read porn? That was absurd! Anyone finding out about my secret was bad enough, but to accuse ME of reading porn could face disembowelment from me.

And "Disembowelment of Sempais" seemed to be a great avenue then.

Anger was clouding my mind as negative emotions started to build up in my body. My reputation and name was at stake! If I were to disappear right now, my tarnished image and reputation will go down in history, and it will forever stay that way. For the sake of my massive pride, I decided to stay put and no matter what it takes, I must salvage my name!

To say all the majestic phrases was one thing, to do it was another. Trying to prove my innocence while facing my sempai-tachi's wrath was as good as a rowboat's chance in a storm. Oishi-sempai was terribly emotional as he started weeping and wasting resources at the same time. I mean, that must be the 215th piece of tissue Oishi-sempai had tossed into that humongous pile of used tissues. This meant that more trees have to be cut down just to shut his waterworks. Gosh, it was like he just broke up with his long time lover or something. roll eyes Although I tried to insist that I was innocent, sempai-tachi seemed to have embedded this fact that I was reading porn deep in their brains. All they just did was to holler or exclaimed how shocked they were, with my face facing the wrath of their saliva. Some in their misery esp. Oishi-sempai, were trying desperately to save their precious kouhai from sinking deeper into this sin of mine; attempting to snap me out of it. Oishi-sempai consulted his ever reliable old book for solutions. Kawamura-sempai who snapped out of his daze started providing Oishi-sempai solutions as he began to look through the thick pile of resources sempai-tachi have brought along. Inui-sempai flipped through his tattered notebook for solutions. Fuji-sempai just laid back and enjoyed the great show. Grrrr….. Sadistic as usual.

"I DON'T READ THOSE STUFF!" I yelled, hoping to knock some sense into their useless brains. No luck though, most of them just gave me piercing stares and returned to their activities; weeping/finding solutions/smiling/dazing/others. I groaned as I slumped onto the hard floor. The stupid headache still did not go away even though I have consumed like tons of aspirin. I should complain to that company and sue even penny out of them. Yelling aggravates my headache even more. I felt like boiling over and die from high blood pressure. Yup and sempai-tachi can start preparing for my funeral. I should make them pay for my funeral expenses.

Solution? To shut up and stop yelling.

And I did just that, after trying a few more useless attempts of defending myself.

I slumped on the floor and rubbed my temples, fuming inwardly. Sempai-tachi acted as if it was the worst crime on earth to touch or stare at a porn magazine. I can't blame them for being surprised or horrified, but they were overreacting. Okay, I don't mean that I like porn, let me get this straight. I detest porn, and think that it is a threat to humanity. But I was exposed to pornography from a really young age, in courtesy of that stupid old monk. I bet he showed me porn magazines for bedtime stories instead of fairytales. I remember the first time I actually came into contact with a porn magazine was years ago, when I was still an innocent, young lad of five. That old man placed me on his lap and started to flip open his porn magazine, intending to introduce me to the world of loose women and lots of flesh. Well that was before my mother screeched at him to surrender that magazine, threatening to bash his brain in. if he didn't. That father of mine handed his magazine meekly and fortunately, I did not get my eyes tainted. However, that did not dampen my father's attempts and tried regularly to get me to at least read it. Luckily, my cousin or my mother managed to foil his attempts and all these years, I never did peer into the contents of that magazine. Therefore I am still pure and innocent. I was filled with digust every time my father tried to influence me to read it. I am not him! But overtime (Due to that magazine appearing regularly every meal time) I found that I could not escape from the curse of that magazine therefore I formed a truce with him. He could read that thing as long as he does not show me the contents. He complied.

My thoughts were interrupted when Sakura suddenly yelled and defended me. That little girl surprised me, again. How does she know that that stupid old man reads porn? Unless…

A loud crash startled me and I looked up, horror spelt all over my face. DAMN! THOSE WERE THE MAGAZINES I TRIED TO HIDE FROM SEMPAI-TACHI! I felt my headache increased by ten-folds as I stared at the overwhelming flood of dirty magazines. As I was cursing with every colourful language I could think of, Oishi-sempai's eyes widen as he realized the amount of accursed magazine spreading all over the place.

His nerves snapped and senses went overdrive. Eye balls rolling upwards, he collapsed and passed out, to the horror of everybody.

"ARGHHHHHHHHH! SOMEONE CALL THE AMBULANCE!" Kawamura-sempai yelled his head off.

Kikumaru-sempai gave me this astonished look and exclaimed, "OCHIBI! I THOUGHT YOU WERE ONLY READING PORN BECAUSE OF PUBERTY! THE TRUTH IS THAT YOU HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO IT FOR YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!"

Sometimes I feel that I am the only sane soul around here.

With nerves totally frazzled and shattered, I gave up convincing them and just went all silent, inwardly cursing the stupidity of sempai-tachi.

Kaidoh-sempai's eyes went as wide as saucers when the sight of pornographic magazines flooding the living room. Letting out a great yell, he scampered out of the living room and into the garden. Momo-sempai instantly covered his eyes and hollered, " Echizen! You brat! How dare you – " The noise increased as Sakura stayed buried under the mountain of magazines, oblivious to the racket that she had caused once more. Fuji-sempai was well… smiling.

It was half an hour later that everyone managed to calm down and Kikumaru-sempai managed to arouse Oishi-sempai from his slumber; with the help of Inui-sempai's juice of course.

"Eji! What are you doing?" Oishi-sempai shouted, his entire body drenched with green liquid. Eji-sempai ran forward and gave Oishi-sempai a crushing hug, "OISHI! I AM SO GLAD THAT YOU ARE ALIVE!"

I can't be bothered to further explain how ridiculous this scene can get. So now, sempai-tachi are guarding me like a sick/wounded yet dangerous animal; someone that was a victim of something, yet wary that I may spread the "disease" to them. Oishi-sempai was pacing up and down, with a worried a frown on his face. Oishi looked downright stressed out, muttering to himself constantly, pacing about the living room.

Suddenly, Oishi-sempai looked at Inui-sempai and gave him a grim look. "I think we are left with no choice but to proceed with the ultimate plan…" Oishi-sempai said slowly and uncertainly, "Though it might be a little cruel, but since things have plunged for the worse…" Inui's-sempai's glasses gleamed in the light and gave a morbid smile as he started flipping through another notebook with a yellow cover. He excused himself and made his way to the kitchen. Before he stepped inside, he asked me, "Echizen, do you have a blender?"

"Errr…. Yes, third cupboard from the right." I replied, feeling a little curious as to what he was contemplating to do.

Strange sounds were emitted from the kitchen and a weird stench began to fill the air. There were occasional times when Inui-sempai emerged from his hideout and went out for a long time before stepping back into the house. He was carrying some suspicious thing that was _moving_! Gosh, Inui-sempai better not turn my kitchen into a slaughter house.

It was a good one and a half hours later that Inui-sempai stepped out with a huge menacing smile tugging his lips. It was then that the half asleep me became alarmed, eyes flew wide open and my facial expressions screamed murder.

Inui-sempai held up a HUGE jug and showed it proudly for all to see. In it was a BLACK concoction of whatever that was and Kami-sama, it had effervescences. I mean true, Inui-sempai's drinks have always bubbled, but have you seen one that bubbled that rapidly before? Moreover, IT IS BLACK! The true colour of evil. It was emitting a terribly foul smell and a faint black coloured smoke was ascending. And please don't tell me that _moving_ thing is in that thing.

Stirring the concoction, Inui-sempai walked towards us.

Kaidoh-sempai went limp and blacked out instantly. Everyone except Fuji-sempai paled to a deathly pallor. Fuji-sempai opened his piercing eyes and stared interestedly at the drink. "Formulated with the best ingredients, this recipe has been passed down for generations as the most effective drink in history." Inui grinned creepily as he stirred the drink furiously, "I call it the Emperor's descent."

A clap of thunder was heard.

"Err… Oishi, isn't this a bit too harsh for Ochibi?" Kikumaru-sempai asked uncertainly.

Oishi eyed that concoction, his apologetic voice laced with guilt, "But this is the only way Echizen can be cured… Surely you don't want him to suffer from this polluted mind any further, right?"

I felt like ripping off Oishi-sempai's head right at that moment. He was brainless sometimes, does he want me to die from poisoning?

Inui-sempai stopped stirring and lifted up his spoon, only to reveal a badly corroded spoon..

"Opps." Inui-sempai muttered as he sank that corroded metal back into the drink form hell.

There is NO WAY that I will ever drink that thing! MY INTESTINES WILL BE CORRODED! ARGHHH! I was hyperventilating , mind was in a whirl, gears in my brain working at breakneck speed, thinking of a way to escape from the clutches of this insane, evil monster who was about to force that drink from hell down my throat. I yelled in protest, hoping to steer their crooked minds back to reality; I was going to die if they were to force that down my throat.

Inui-sempai approached me, "To cure you completely, you need to drink this whole jug." That 2nd sadistic freak smiled and continued, "It will all be over in a moment…"

End of Ryoma's POV, Normal POV

Ryoma ran for his life, away from those crazy goons that were hell bent on curing him off that "illness" that did not even exist in the first place. He ran out of the living room and left a trail of sempais that were chasing after him. It was all THAT OLD MAN'S FAULT!

Kaidoh was still unconscious, blissfully oblivious to anything. Kawamura was too kind to force that poison down Ryoma's throat and was sympathizing him. Although Kikumaru wanted to join in the chase, he was too repulsed by that drink to even go near Inui. Therefore, he cheered from a distance. Oishi, no matter how crazy he was, he was never a heartless guy. He could not bear to watch Ryoma suffer from the effects of that drink, yet he wanted Ryoma to be cured of this "illness" therefore Oishi did not join the chase, but prayed silently for Ryoma's recovery. Fuji was talking on his handphone, his face betrayed an eerie, sadistic smile. Inui and Momoshiro were chasing after poor Ryoma. The pea-brained Momo felt that as a sempai, it was his duty to change Ryoma for the better. Although he almost blacked out upon seeing that Emperor's descent, he felt that he should look after his kouhai and that meant curing Ryoma's obsession over porn. Inui just wanted to test this forbidden drink on his tester.

A loud yelled followed by a huge _thump_ was heard and most of the inactive sempais ran to witness the purification of their kouhai.

Ryoma was trapped at some corner of the house, smashed into some wall when he was turning as his brain was too occupied to take note of where he was going. Frantically, he struggled to get up, only to find out that he was pinned down by Momo and Inui.

"It is for your own good."

"YADDA! BAKA SEMPAI-TACHI! I DON'T EVEN READ PORN! I – "

Inui could not care less and started trying out his new potion on his lab rat. The number one sadist came to witness the moment while Kikumaru still watched from a distance. A loud yell was heard followed by some spluttering and thrashing. The jug was half empty when a terrified and desperate Ryoma mustered all his strength left and broke free of his captor's grasp, trying to scamper away.

Too late though, the Emperor's descent had taken effect.

Ryoma's vision started swimming in front of him so fast, he thought he was on a rollercoaster. His insides were burning and his energy reserve was depleting terribly fast in order to just get Ryoma to stand and avoid blacking out. Holding onto the wall for support, he tried to cough out expletives at his sempais yet his vocal facilities seemed to stop functioning. Was it him or did someone painted everything yellow? His body finally decided to fail on him as he collapsed onto the cold, hard floor.

It was then he saw someone at the doorway. Someone that looked strangely like Tezuka.

Then he fell into deep oblivion.

Yeah I am done. This chappie is a little sadistic, crazy and exaggerating, yes I know. I am also aware that Oishi is acting a little off character. I try not to make that happen again. Forcing down the ultimate Inui's juice down Ryoma is just plain murder. But I thought for extremely long and I felt that this conclusion had to be it. Another thing I am sure you reader observed or noticed is that the Ryoma torturing part (drinking of juice; the process) was extremely short and I excluded Fuji out of the pinning down of Ryoma or participating in the torturing on purpose (Although I am sure many of the readers hope for it. Hee hee). I have a reason for this. Yup, I don't want readers to think that it is going to be a yaoi fic.

Anyway, reviews make my day. So please review!

And do forgive me for making this a sadistic chapter.


	7. A Mistaken identity

This is my last chappie for now. I choose the JC route (baka) which means more mugging for the next two years. I thank you people who have been reading my fan fic. I will see you in December 2006 (hopefully), after my major exams (as usual). But it might not be the same as I will only be writing argumentative essays instead of narratives, and I always fail my argumentative essays.

Forgive me if this fic turns out a little too dull because I am cutting out tons of elaboration due to the immense story plot in this chappie, limited time and a major writer's block. This chappie may not be as funny as the others due to lack of elaboration.

Which means that anyone who still desperately wants to find out who is the mother or wants to end this properly with tons of fluff or whatsoever, feel free to adopt this fic and continue it yar. I will be extremely happy.

_He was in this really dark room, only a lamp barely lit up the place. Ryoma looked about as he bean to wander aimlessly. This room smelled really foul, like some carcass was in the midst of decomposition. _

_It was then that Ryoma realized that the room was flooded with some sort of liquid, black in colour to be exact. His eyes widened when he realized that his shoes were slowly being corroded away by that damned liquid._

"_What the-"_

"_Formulated with the best ingredients, this recipe has been passed down for generations as the most effective drink in history."_

_Ryoma's face turned into a deathly shade of pallour as a jug of that unidentified liquid was brought closed to his face._

"_I call it the Emperor's descent."_

_The chibified versions of the regulars appeared in front of Ryoma, big evil smiles on their faces. "Drink it!" They chanted as chibified Inui raised the Emperor's descent with a morbid smile on his face._

"_You will provide excellent data!" Inui chuckled gleefully._

"_YADDA!" Echizen yelled frantically as he began to run for his life, with the chibified regulars following closely behind, chanting continuously. All this seemed too familiar for Ryoma, like this scenario happened before._

_The gods must not have liked him as Inui for some reason or another managed to grab Ryoma by the ankle and gave him a sharp pull. Ryoma fell down ungracefully as chibi Inui crawled up with that accursed liquid, glasses flashing in the light._

_To cure you completely, you need to drink this whole jug." That 2nd sadistic freak smiled and continued, "It will all be over in a moment…"_

"_YADDA!" Ryoma struggled and broke free of Chibi Inui's grasp and he sprinted off. There was some sort of light over there, probably some sort of exit. Ryoma darted towards that light, with the rest of the chibified regulars chasing after him._

"_Everyone, after him!" Chibi Inui shouted as he led the mob of crazy chibis after Ryoma._

_Ryoma shuddered and desperately reached for the light._

_This better be a nightmare! _

His vision was swimming as Ryoma cracked open an eye, wincing as his eyes were still not accustomed to bright light. As he used his palm to block the light out, he began to wonder about all the question marks forming above his head.

_What the heck happened?_

Ryoma began to take note of his surroundings. He was in his bedroom, with him tucked in nicely into bed, with his blanket all the way up to his chin.

_How did I land up in my bedroom?_

_How – Oh shit!_

An unexpected wave of nausea struck Ryoma and he suddenly sat up and made a mad dash for the toilet. Needless to say, Ryoma spent quite some time in there puking his guts out.

It was nearly one hour before Echizen emerged out of the toilet looking totally dehydrated and weak. Everything was in a whirl, like he was on a roller coaster, but he was still livid enough to curse those culprits who caused him to force out what ever he ingested.

Oh he was clear alright. When he was biding his time in the toilet, barfing out his previous dinners, the gears in Ryoma's brain which were working at breakneck speed finally clicked and came to a conclusion on his plight.

This was a summary on what had happened from Ryoma's POV, and due to the rating of this fic, all vulgarities were censored.

That was all –censored- sempais fault for having no –censored- brains and –censored- thought that I was indulging in –censored- porn. –Censored-. So they chased me everywhere and coerced me to drink that –censored- sewage water. Inui sempai –censored- forced it down my throat and –censored- Momo sempai helped! –Censored-. And –censoredcensoredcensored-…

And went on and on for another fifteen minutes before Ryoma exhausted his supply of vulgarities.

He slumped dizzily onto the bed, trying to stabilize his condition. His vision had turned into a significant shade of bright red this time round. Ryoma remember when Inui forced that drink down his throat, he actually felt a burning sensation, like his oesophagus was on fire or something. His senses went numb and his brain activated the "red alert" mode. All Ryoma remember was thrashing wildly, attempting to force away that mug of murky stuff. By chance a miracle did happened as both Inui and Momo lost concentration at that fraction of a second, which was enough for Ryoma to make a desperate attempt to escape.

It came too late though, as a quarter of that drink greatly impacted Ryoma and his vision turned yellow instantly. And you know the rest. As a result, this experience greatly traumatized Echizen as he suffered from a terrible nightmare of insane chibis chasing after him.

Oishi, yes the brainless blockhead who was heading the plan of forcing it down his throat. The mastermind. The lack of common sense from his sempai really drove him to his grave.

Well at least something good came out of it. His headache was gone, but the side effects of the drink kicked in immediately, which included nausea, dizziness, coloured vision, instability and many others. It was not fair that he had to suffer much more right now.

Ryoma began to replay the events that happened like a video tape, as he suddenly detected a large piece of paper stuck on the wall.

_Ochibi_

_I hope you will be cured and revert back to our little O kouhai! Oishi had already weeded out all those stuff and dealt with it. Inui said that if his drink doesn't work, he will try his ancestor's secret weapon, which is hidden somewhere in his house. He left another dose of his drink at your table in case you need another stronger dosage._

_Get well soon!_

_From Eji and the rest of the regulars._

Ryoma gave that piece of paper a blank stare before rising unstably on his feet and ripped the offending paper down from the wall. Oishi dealt with those porn already?

All Ryoma heard was an extremely loud cry that came from the living room. It sounded like his old man. Ryoma trudged towards the door and listened.

"WHO TOOK MY MAGAZINES AND BURNT THEM? WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS ON THOSE IMPS! I WILL MAKE THEM DIE A TERRIBLE DEATH!"

Ryoma POV

Tell me why am I doing this again? Oh yes, I am going to get back at that stupid old man for causing me so much trouble.

_This may cause a life… _ I thought as I watch it bubble, turning to black then to deeper yellow. After all, I blacked out just by downing a quarter of it. A whole cup of emperor's descent can actually kill.

I got this idea a while ago, when that old man was yelling his head off. Oishi-sempai burnt those porn. That's the only good deed Oishi-sempai had done, saving me from the laborious effort to actually detect and lug out all those sinful material. Further more, it would only taint my hands. As my eyes slowly scanned the room once more, I suddenly felt the repulsive aura which was rolling off the drink like waves. My orbs suddenly lit brightly as I thought of a perfect plan.

I took the drink and with immense amount of effort, I walk down the stairs, trying my best not to collapse along the way. There it was my father's beer. Making sure that my father was still in the living room before I crept towards the kitchen, if you call that creeping that is. I was dragging my malfunctioning body towards the kitchen.

Then I gleefully tipped Inui-sempai's concoction into the beer and watched it sizzle and smoke. After ensuring that my father was not in detecting range, I went back to my room.

_How long have I been sleeping?_ I wondered as I stared at the clock. It was only then I realized that it was 8am in the morning. Sempai-tachi came in the early afternoon… which meant that I was out for nearly 18 hours! Damn, there was practice this morning.

A loud yell cut through my train of thoughts as it echoed the whole house. A morbid smile fleeted across my face.

_There are things that are worse than death after all._

I collapsed onto my bed, intending to sleep till all side effects wear off, which may take up to weeks, considering the fact that my guts needed time to patch up the gaping hole that was corroded by the emperor's descent. It was then that I realized that there was a huge lump on my bed.

_Sakura._

Sempai-tachi must have stuffed her next to me. As a form of comfort? Maybe. But I was slowly getting accustomed to her presence. I pulled off the covers and intended to wake her up. But something was amidst. There was far too long and too much black hair as compared to what a Sakura used to have. Warily, I brushed the hair away and took a good look at her face.

_Oh shit!_

She was not Sakura!

Tennis Courts in Seigaku…

"Nya, Buchou is so mean!" Eiji wailed as completed his 55th lap, his legs on the verge of giving way.

"Stop wailing, there is still 145 laps more to go." Inui piped as he ran past Eiji.

"Mou, I cannot run anymore!" Eiji slumped onto the ground, only to be dragged up once more by his doubles partner, " You can't rest now! Tezuka will increase the number of laps again!"

The regulars minus Echizen were running laps this morning. 200 laps to be exact, in courtesy of Tezuka. Kawamura BURNING mode was wearing out fast, as he and Kikumaru were lagging behind. It was not like the rest of the regulars were that far off. Even Fuji looked a little strained and that means something. Kaidoh was as usual racing with Momo, but this time both lacked the speed. Inui was trying his hardest to keep up with Fuji.

"Nya! He is giving us that evil glare again!" Eiji cried.

Tezuka POV

After glaring at them for the 100th time, I sat down and massaged my temples. Yes, they received a hefty punishment from me.

"Don't you think that 200 laps are a bit too much?" Sensei asked as she stared at those regulars.

"…"

"What did they do anyway?"

They attempted murder. Well technically they did. After all I am sure if they forced anymore of that Inui's juice down Echizen's throat, he would be history and so will the regulars.

It all happened yesterday, early afternoon I supposed. I was strolling to Echizen's house after I dealt with my own personal business. As I strolled along, I was thinking on how bizarre this situation could be. All this commotion started because of one kid who claimed that Echizen was her father and the next thing I knew, that became the talk of the school. Everywhere I went, there were incredulous remarks about Echizen. Something about them terribly shocked about Echizen's personal life and all. Other squealing fan girls of his formulated various theories, like what age he got married, how his wife looks like, wheather Sakura was really his and many other crap that only senseless people would indulge in. Some perverted ones even went in depth to… ahem disturbing things I rather not say.

I pity that boy. All he got now was unwanted attention and a whole school of babbling idiots. So imagine how amused I was when the rest of the regulars approached me, asking me if I wanted to join them to help Echizen alleviate his "suffering". I say, their visit will put even more pressure on Echizen instead. I decided to pop by later, to see if everyone was doing fine.

Just then, I received a call from Fuji.

"Moshi moshi."

"Tezuka, things are pretty interesting right now."

"Fuji, what are you talking about."

"You might want to come to Echizen's place right now. You are missing out on something good."

Then Fuji turned off his handphone.

I got this really bad feeling. Fuji has this morbid fascination of watching people suffer, and the tone of his voice just hinted to me that something bad was happening. I quickened my pace. Luckily, Echizen's house was just round the corner.

What I didn't expect was a few of the regulars forcing down some black stuff down Echizen's throat. Kaidoh was knocked out due to some reason and Kikumaru was jumping up and down, as if he was enjoying this commotion. Fuji was definitely enjoying it, I could see that sadistic smile appearing on his face once more. My eyebrow was raised extremely high when I saw Oishi next to a giant pile of used tissues. But the most astonishing site was a living room flooded with pornographic magazines. Now I was not prepared for that to happen at all.

My family has always been terribly traditional and pornography was definitely frowned upon. No screw that, I would be disowned if something like that was spotted in my room.

At this time, Echizen managed to break free of his captor's grasp before giving me this stare, like he was trying to clear his blurred vision or something. By the time he figured who was the stranger at his door step, he went off to dreamland.

Silence.

"So anybody wants to explain what happened?" I asked with a dangerous voice.

Silence again, then –

"Tezuka!"

"Nya, we thought Ochibi was indulging in porn!"

"Buchou, those stuff tainted our eyes!"

"Then we were like all upset and stuff!"

"The next pillar of Seigaku reading porn! Sniff, this will affect moral standards! Sakura will have a scarred childhood!" A whole new flood of used tissue appeared again.

"Next thing we knew, it was actually Echizen father that read it."

"Nya! Ochibi was exposed to porn FROM A YOUNG AGE!"

"So father reading porn son reading porn!"

"Then we decided!"

"Oishi-sempai asked Inui-sempai…"

"It was a grave matter and the most difficult decision to make. But Echizen's well being was more important, so I approached Inui for a cure."

"And I dug out more secret recipe. Formulated with the best ingredients, this recipe has been passed down for generations as the most effective drink in history. I call it the emperor's descent!"

"Woah and nya, it was so black!"

" Yeah Buchou, woah it was bubbling so rapidly! Mamushi blacked out instantly."

"Nya it stank like anything too! Like some sewage water!"

"And I remembered Inui-sempai carrying some moving thing into the kitchen."

"It was moving Momo. Where else can you get such perfect taste without entrails?"

"Eek! YOU MEAN THERE WERE ANIMAL ORGANS IN IT?"

"Well there were more than just internal organs though… Hmm but this recipe is top secret. I cannot expose the ingredients!"

"Nya anyway, then Inui wanted Ochibi to drink it!"

"Buchou, I helped too! Out of the goodness of my heart!" He says it all so proudly.

"I was praying was his speedy recovery."

"Nya and you know the rest!"

"Ah I collected excellent data too!"

Silence, then a cold wind blew.

Only one word came to my mind though.

Idiots.

"Have you ever thought that Echizen did not even read those stuff in the first place?" I asked finally.

"Well Tezuka, we were just playing safe."

I resisted the urge to rub my temples or bang their heads. So all of them just ganged up on Echizen. They seriously need punishment for being such brainless gits and for putting our team's ace out of action for quite some time. I glanced at the black stuff. Another mouthful of that and we could just prepare for a funeral. Then I will personally murder these fools as well.

"Momo! Bring Echizen back to his bedroom and Kawamura, bring Sakura up as well." I pointed to the girl sitting in the midst of all those porn.

"Yes Buchou!"

Kikumaru dashed up to Echizen's room as well.

"And Inui, could you clear that pile of tissues for Oishi. He seemed to be in a daze."

Oishi snapped out of his daze and started throwing out all those magazines out of the house. Kaidoh finally woke up and helped Oishi as well. Then Oishi went to the kitchen and emerged with a box of matches.

There was a huge bon fire that afternoon.

After staring at all the guilty faces (other than Fuji), I came to a conclusion.

"200 laps tomorrow. Those who dare to do any less will have to drink that." I pointed to the Emperor's descent before exiting Echizen's abode.

"WHA-"

"Anyone who dares to protest will do 500 laps!"

Silence reigned once more.

Back to Ryoma's household

_Hallucination must be another of those side effects! _ I mentally yelled.

Lying in front of me was not some little girl with the age of six. It was some girl, with long black hair, age thirteen or so. She was pretty all right, really pretty. But that's not the point!

He stared at her for another second before rushing to the toilet again.

At this moment, eyelids were lifted revealing bright golden eyes. She sat up and looked around sleepily.

Ryoma choose to exit his hiding place at the same time which caused an instant reaction.

"Papa!"

That teenage girl rushed to Ryoma and gave him a hug. "Good Morning!"

Ryoma froze for a second before pushing the girl away, "Who are you? What are you doing in MY room?"

"Papa? It is me Sakura!"

Down to the kitchen…

Nanjiroh woke up and rubbed his sore head. What was he doing on the floor in the first place? Hmm… A cup with its contents spilled all over the floor. All he remembers was a very furious him stomping towards his beer to soothe the fire within him. However, all he did was to have a mouthful before he detected the "unique taste". He spat the beer out off his mouth immediately. Too bad Nanjiroh did swallow a small amount which was enough to make him scream out and knock him out for several hours (Frightening isn't it, the emperor's descent).

After clearing up the kitchen, he decided to approach his son to confront him about those burnt magazines and the spiked beer. Up the stairs he went and Nanjiroh was about to push the slightly ajar door open when he heard some voices coming out from the room. Being the ever nosy father he was, he stuck his eye and viewed thorough the crack.

That was not his granddaughter.

In her place was a teenage girl who looked extremely pretty, even Nanjiroh was felt attracted to her. What matters most was that she was sitting REALLY close to that brat, and that unappreciative brat just pulled a really long face. Man, he really don't know what is good for him.

**Nanjiroh's data base**

**Keywords: **_Teenage Girl_

**Sub-keywords: **_Not my grand daughter_

_Sitting really close to that brat_

**Analyzing…**

**Conclusion: **_His wife_

His wife… That brats wife!

Nanjiroh took another good look at her. Man! That brat certainly has good taste. And to think that he was always worried over his son's love affairs. This was something worth celebrating! Nanjiroh was about to investigate more when suddenly he heard the door bell rang.

_That brat is too smitten over his wife to notice anything! _Nanjiroh thought as he dashed down to open the door.

Back to Ryoma's room

"So you are telling me that you came from the future." Ryoma asked warily.

"Yepz papa!" Sakura beamed.

"Correct me if I am wrong, but the Sakura I know is until my waist and she is only six years old."

Sakura stared at Ryoma before answering, "It must be another time shift then. As every time frame passes, I will start to age even more. But well, that time frame is unpredictable though… It may be 24 hours like this time round. But it can take even longer or even shorter time for me to age. Occasionally, I may turn back into a child again."

Sakura flopped down next to Ryoma before continuing, "Oh well, that's what happen if you tamper with an uncompleted time machine!"

"You came back to the past using a time machine?"

"Yepz."

"That's absurd." Ryoma snorted.

"You can call it the wonders of science." Sakura remarked as she stood up.

Ryoma glanced at her before replying, "You are quite short for your age, even though you are half a head taller than me."

"Well people say that I got my height from my father and my looks from my mother…"

"… your mother must be really pretty huh…" Ryoma murmured.

"Papa finally said Mama is pretty!" Sakura yelled.

"No! I just…" Ryoma shouted, blushing really hard.

"Awww… You can't fool me Papa!" Sakura teased Ryoma as she wagged her finger.

At the gate.

A bunch of dead tired regulars, without Tezuka gathered outside Echizen's house. After running 100 laps, Kikumaru decided that he had enough and with the help of the rest of the regulars, they managed to negotiate with that stoic captain of theirs. It was only after their teacher-in-charge persuaded Tezuka did he agree to let them off and allow them to complete their remaining hundred laps on another day. Then someone suggested to pay a visit to Ryoma, to apologise and checked if he died of Inui juice poisoning, therefore all the regulars trotted to Ryoma's house today.

The gate opened revealing a monk, clad in a loose robe. A few of the regulars stared at that monk and wondered how such a person could be related to Echizen. After all, first impressions count a lot and Nanjiroh did not give them a good impression though.

"Sorry for troubling you, is Ryoma in?"

"Yo Shounens! Today is a very happy day!" Nanjiroh cried.

"Huh?"

"Ryoma is currently busy with his wife!"

"Ehhhhh! His wife?" Kikumaru was astonished. So were the rest of the regulars.

"Ohh! She is really pretty! Man that brat has good taste!"

Oishi started to pale, muttering something about underage marriages.

"Say, can you bring us to see her?" Kikumaru cried, bobbing up and down.

"Sure why not? Spread the joy!" Nanjiroh happily lead the bunch of them in and stopped them outside Ryoma's room.

"Shhh! Don't let that brat know!" Nanjiroh shushed them.

"Ano uncle, how are you related to Echizen?" Oishi asked.

"Me? I am his father!" Nanjiroh replied, as if that was the most obvious thin in the world.

Everyone was staring at Nanjiroh, Inui furiously scribbling into his notebook with his new found data. His reputation was after all tarnished due to the porn magazine incident.

Nanjiroh gave an exasperated sigh before saying, "Look, if you want to be like those pesky reporters, then I shall not say anything. But for now, aren't we supposed to be observing his wife?"

Everyone then piled outside the door, struggling to get glimpse of Echizen's so called wife.

"Woah! She is pretty!"

"Let me see!"

"Ohh! She is hugging him!"

"Where?"

"Blind. Psssssshhhhhhh!"

"What did you say Mamushi?"

"Quiet you two! It is Echizen's welfare we are concerned about right now…. We must see if he is mentally prepared for this and …"

"Excuse me, but you sound like the mother of my son. Even my wife doesn't worry hat much!"

"Oh! Climax! They are sitting really close to each other!"

"Great data! Probability of both of them kissing is 40!"

"Hey Mamushi don't push!"

"You are too fat you stupid powerhouse!"

"No you are!"

"Nya! Don't push me!"

"Stupid Powerhouse!"

"Baka Mamushi!"

"Stop you two!"

"Argh!"

The imbalanced pile of regulars toppled as Kaidoh and Momo started to fight again. And you guessed it, the door opened and most of them fell into the room. Except Fuji of course.

Ryoma's eyes went as round of dinner plate when he saw them. His eye balls nearly budged out when he saw HIS father among the pile of bodies.

"What is going on?" Ryoma demanded.

"OCHIBI! YOUR WIFE IS SO PRETTY!" Kikumaru started glomping his kouhai again.

"Wha-"

"Shounen! You old pops is so proud of you!" Nanjiroh wiped an imaginary tear away, "Your taste in women has not disappoint me at all!"

"Echizen! Are you prepared to handle this responsibility?" Oishi asked hurriedly.

"Psssssssshhhhh!"

"Echizen! Aren't you going to introduce your wife to us?"

"I-" Ryoma argued.

"Yo Shounens! In celebration of this blessed day, lunch is on me!" Nanjiroh foolishly cried out as he happily pushed the rest of the regulars out of the room.

"Oyaji! She is not-"

"Oh shounen, remember to bring your wife along as well!"

Gosh! I finally ended this chappie! So a big thank U to all you ppl who read this fic and Pls review! Anyone who wants to adopt this fic, feel free to do so.

Lack of elaboration due to time constraints and immense story plot to unveil.

PLS REVIEW.

See you in 2 yrs time!


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